Fall Into Forever
by ElysiumPhoenix
Summary: Natasha gets the surprise of her life when a blue box lands on the beach in front of her home. What will happen when she joins the Doctor and Amy on their adventures? Will the Doctor and Amy find their way past Natasha's walls to become her friends? Doc11/OC
1. The Beast Below

_Author Note – Okay, so this is what I've been neglecting my other stories for. I know – I'm awful. I am almost literally sh**ing bricks at taking on the Whoniverse. Let me know what you think._

* * *

_**We travel, some of us forever, to seek other states, other lives, other souls. – Anais Nin**_

* * *

Natasha sat and tapped a couple of keys on her laptop before clicking her mouse. She copied a section of the web chat she was looking at and went back to her document pasting it in. Cutting out the unnecessary bits Natasha quickly reduced the five paragraphs she'd copied down to just one.

Moving to another web page Natasha scanned down the long, _lengthy_ chat and web gossip. Conspiracy theorists really liked to ramble. Not even a quarter of what was written was of use to her. That was why it took so long to add anything to her timeline – it took forever to make sure it was for real.

Natasha chuckled when she spotted a comment from someone she talked with regularly. Captain Boe always put the funniest things on these sites. She remembered the first time they'd started talking about three years ago. Natasha had been frustrated at one man's completely absurd theory that _he_ was causing all the bad things that had happened.

Considering how long Natasha had been researching him, nearly seven years now, she couldn't understand how someone could think that. So she had immediately went off on a rant at the idiot calling him every variation of 'idiot' she could think of.

A couple of minutes afterwards the Captain had put a comment on saying that he completely agreed and loved her feistiness. Since then they had kept up a regular chat occasionally exchanging information. Although the Captain hardly ever gave her information she hadn't already tracked down, Natasha still enjoyed talking with him. She often felt he knew a lot more than he let on, but she hardly ever talked on the chat rooms to share either so she didn't hold it against him.

After all when you were doing what she was you didn't want to advertise it. Natasha wasn't like most of the idiots out there; she knew to keep her gob shut. There was sure to be government groups following him too. She hadn't restricted her research to the recent years; she had tracked him _way_ back. He popped up all over the place and she didn't want to miss a single appearance.

Natasha put a message up after the Captain's and told him to play nice with the imbeciles. As she rubbed her neck to ease the tight muscles Natasha caught sight of the clock on the wall. Two o'clock, she had worked into the early morning again. Shrugging Natasha got up and left her laptop to go get a fresh cup of tea. Stood at the kitchen window waiting for the kettle to boil Natasha listened the sea, losing herself in the waves that were just beyond the edge of her garden.

She had always found the waves hypnotic and relaxing even if there was a storm raging. Tonight though the waves were calm and the moon was reflected on the almost still water. Natasha felt the urge to go outside and left the kettle to open the back door. She wandered down the gravel path and onto the beach.

It was cold out and it made Natasha wish she had on something warmer than her usual long sleeved silk shirt, waistcoat and jeans.

Holding back her long wavy brown hair that the wind was threatening to blow over her face Natasha ignored the water now and looked up towards the stars. After twenty three years of living she was still amazed by the stars. Looking at them made her feel so small and yet so big at the same time. Gazing up Natasha felt as though she could fall into forever. Natasha got an image of a smiley faced apple and fish fingers and custard in her head. Shaking her head to dispel the image Natasha sighed at her weirdness.

She always ignored those visions now, they hadn't helped when – Natasha cut that thought off abruptly. She'd been working too long if she was thinking that way again. Focusing on the stars again Natasha wondered what he was doing now. Maybe he was having a well-deserved break after saving the planet. After all there was no way to really tell what he had just finished doing, maybe one of the first things on her timeline was just yesterday for him.

Natasha suddenly got the urge to step to the side and did so, not a moment too soon since out of nowhere something crashed onto the spot she'd just vacated. Coughing slightly Natasha waved away the sand that had been blown up. When the sand settled Natasha felt her jaw drop.

'No. Frigging. Way.' She whispered to herself. 'I'm dreaming, I must be.'

In front of her was _the_ blue box. _His_ blue box.

The door to the box opened and a head appeared. The man had floppy brown and hazel eyes, he also had a nifty looking bow tie around his neck.

The man spotted her and smiled. 'Oh sorry. I didn't land on your shed did I? I land on things a lot.' He got out and looked around. 'Well this isn't the moon.' Suddenly he clapped his hands. 'Never mind, still a good test run. Well see you later.'

Just as he was about to disappear back inside the box Natasha unfroze.

'Doctor, wait!'

The Doctor stopped and looked at her. 'You know who I am?' Natasha nodded silently and he came over to her. 'Huh. That's new, well nearly new. Sort of. And you are?'

'N-Natasha. Natasha Francis.'

'Well Natasha Francis. How come you know me?' He peered at her intently but still had a kind of goofy smile on his face.

'Er I've been researching you for nearly seven years. Ever since two thousand and five when that spaceship crashed into London.' Natasha still heard part of her mind babbling that the Doctor was stood in front of her. 'Although I've found things to do with you going _way_ back, to Pompeii and Queen Victoria who of course founded Torchwood.'

'You know about Torchwood?' The Doctor asked as he took an unusually large sniff of the air.

'Yes, I always liked Queen Victoria, she always seemed…tough.'

'Ooh, yes she was feisty.'

Natasha felt her eyes widen as he confirmed part of her timeline. 'Well I researched her life and found out some stuff about Torchwood House, after that my degree came in handy as I looked throughout the whole of history for you.'

'Your degree?' Suddenly the doctor scrunched his nose at her. 'Oh yuck, you're not an archaeologist are you?'

Natasha scowled at him and crossed her arms. 'And what exactly in wrong with archaeologists?'

The Doctor laughed. 'I'm a time traveller, I point and laugh at archaeologists.'

'Well that's not very nice.' Natasha felt a thrill when he said time traveller. 'But I'm not actually an archaeologist I just have the degree for it.'

'Oh well, that's okay then. So Natasha is that your house with the door open?'

Natasha glanced at her small one bedroom bungalow briefly. 'Yep, all mine.' She looked at him and finally let her excitement show on her face. 'Oh god! I cannot wait to tell Captain Boe I've actually met you!'

The Doctor who had turned away looked at her suddenly. 'Who?'

'Captain Boe, he's this guy I talk to online. We talk about you sometimes, mostly we just chat though. He flirts like nobody's business, he puts Casanova to shame.'

'I owe him a chicken still.' The Doctor muttered before focusing on her again. 'So this, Captain Boe, he talks about me? With you?' He seemed really interested in her answer.

'Er, yeah…he doesn't say much but I can tell he knows a lot. A few times he's helped me validate some things about you.'

'Has he really? I'll have to talk to him about that.' The Doctor said turning to walk towards her bungalow.

Natasha scrambled after him. 'Wait, you know who Boe is?'

The Doctor stepped into her kitchen and looked around curiously. 'Yes, met him quite a few times, his future self too. Last saw him when we shifted a few planets around.'

Natasha gaped at him, astounded that Captain Boe actually _knew_ the Doctor.

'Oh, this is interesting.' The Doctor was sat on her sofa looking at her laptop.

Realising her timeline was still on the screen Natasha rushed out of the kitchen area and over to him. 'You shouldn't look at people's things without asking.'

'Ooh, this is really good,' he glanced up at her, '_you're_ really good. No wonder Jack talks to you.'

'Jack? Who's Jack?' Natasha couldn't keep track of his conversation changes.

'Boe, Jack is Boe. Or he will be Boe, lots later anyway.'

'Oh right.' Whatever that meant.

'Why do you not have any photos out Natasha Francis?' The Doctor asked without looking away from her laptop.

Natasha didn't know when he'd noticed that but wasn't going to give him an answer. 'Because. What did you mean before when you talked about a test run?'

The Doctor was clicking on her laptop. 'The TARDIS needed to be broken in. Now,' the Doctor looked up at her, 'photos.'

Natasha swallowed nervously not wanting to talk about it. 'Why do you want to know?'

'Because you're chat history with Jack tells me you love to talk with people, even if it is Jack, and the way you talk and write is as though you grew surrounded by people who encouraged you to speak your mind. And yet…no photos and no pets either and you live at least a mile from the nearest village.'

Natasha wondered how on earth he'd got that in the five minutes he'd been here. 'I uh – I have pictures, but I don't have them out.'

'Why?'

She shrugged to try and make light of her words. 'I don't need the reminders every day when my memories don't leave me alone.'

The Doctor suddenly stood and looked into her eyes. 'That's an odd way to put it…but it makes sense.' He kept looking at her and Natasha could see just how old his eyes were. The Doctor stood back and took an apple from his pocket tossing it up and down a few times before putting it back. 'Okay, let's go then.' He turned back towards the back door.

'Wait, go where?' Natasha said without moving.

'I'm inviting you along with me. Are you coming?' The Doctor smiled at her from the doorway.

Natasha stared at him for a stunned moment. 'Hell yeah!' She said enthusiastically. 'Let me grab a couple of things.'

Natasha quickly ran into the bedroom and grabbed a large duffel bag and a canvas bag. She threw bundles of clothes into the duffel along with toiletries. She also put a few sketch pads and a large pencil case into the canvas bag and went back to the living room. 'I just need three more things.' Natasha went to the cupboard in the corner of the room and took out two things. A shoebox sized container and a large photo album, she put them in with her clothes and zipped the duffel bag.

Dropping onto the sofa Natasha made a few clicks on her laptop and started talking while typing. 'I'm just leaving Boe…or Jack a message. The way you talked about him you seemed to trust him so I figure I can trust him too.' Natasha looked over her message to make sure what she needed to say was in it.

_Dear Boe…or should I say Jack?_

_A certain Doctor just made a house call and mentioned you. Now we're off on a trip. I know you mentioned spending a lot of time in Cardiff and I live just outside it and I need you to look after my house, my address is at the bottom and my spare key is underneath the ledge of my bathroom window._

_I figure if he trusts you I can trust you…mostly._

_Now I understand why you seemed to know more than you said. I tell you what he sure is…the only word I can think of is…well he's the Doctor, but I guess that covers it. _

_Anyway I'll write when I can. I can't wait to see what happens! Oh my god my mind is whirling!_

_Oh and despite not meeting you – I know you so I'll say this once DO NOT LOOK IN MY UNDERWEAR DRAWER!_

_Talk soon friend,_

_WavesandSands or rather Natasha Francis._

_P.S. If we ever meet up I'm kicking your ass for that comment about needing blonde hair to warn people about my memory issues. I'm perfectly happy with brown hair thanks._

Natasha shut her computer and grabbed it and the charger. She stood up and nearly screamed. The Doctor was stood right behind the sofa.

'Don't do that!' Natasha said fiercely clutching her heart. 'Wait…were you reading what I typed?'

The Doctor smiled. 'Yes, very wise to warn Jack away from your undergarments but I doubt it will work.' Natasha frowned at that but didn't get the chance to respond. 'Come along then Natasha Francis.' The Doctor turned and left through the kitchen leaving Natasha scrambling.

She quickly put her laptop and charger into the canvas bag and grabbed it and the duffle. At the kitchen door she flicked the light off and grabbed her keys, phone and charger and quickly stepped outside. After locking the door Natasha turned to find the Doctor stood on the beach looking at the stars.

She walked over and did the same. 'It's hard to believe you've been out there. If the stories are true that is.'

'Oh they're definitely true.' The Doctor said with a chuckle. 'Why were you on the beach when I landed?'

Natasha decided not to tell him about the feelings she got sometimes. 'I come out to look at the stars a lot. They make me feel as if I could fall into forever.'

The Doctor grinned and went to the TARDIS opening the door. 'Well then Miss Natasha Francis, how would you like to take the first step into forever?' He gave her another goofy smile before disappearing inside.

Natasha felt her heart start to race. Was she really going to do this? Run off with the Doctor? There were all sorts of stories about him that she kept track of on her laptop as well as the timeline. More than a few stories told her that she might not come back here anytime soon…if at all. Natasha looked back at her now dark bungalow and then back up at the stars.

'Oh hell yeah.' She whispered to herself. Natasha eagerly stepped into the TARDIS, nudged the door shut and then stopped just inside.

It was…amazing. The room was cavernous but _gorgeous_! Natasha ran up to the central area that was the oddest looking console ever and put her bags down on a seat. She turned on the spot to try and look everywhere at once.

'Oh.' It wasn't even the same _shape_ on the inside it was an odd sort of circle shape.

'Oh.' The walls curved up gracefully from the floor and had odd circles on them. Natasha couldn't decide if they were windows or lights. Some of the light seemed to come from them but they looked a bit like windows.

'Oh.' Natasha looked down through the floor and saw that there was an area underneath. There were also a couple of sets of stairs leading off in two _different_ directions.

'Go on, say it.'

Natasha turned to find the Doctor watching her while he hit a lot of different levers and switches. He glanced at her with an expectant grin on his face.

Natasha beamed. 'It's brilliant!'

The Doctor's face fell slightly and he came over to her. 'You're not saying it, I love that bit.'

'I'm not saying what?' Natasha asked in confusion, clearly he had wanted a different reaction.

'People usually say – '

'It's bigger on the inside?' She asked with a lifted eyebrow. The Doctor started to beam happily, until she started talking again. 'Well it would have to be wouldn't it? The stuff you get up to you would need more in here than a phone. Besides it's _your_ spaceship, why would I judge it by the outside? You might change your face but your ship is obviously more than she seems as well.'

The Doctor got an intense look on his face. 'I knew I liked you for a reason. There's something about you though Natasha Francis, something I've forgotten.'

Now Natasha was really confused, 'But this is the first time we've met. How can you have forgotten something about me?'

'No this is the first time _you've_ met _me_. That I remember anyway.' He whirled away and went back to flipping switches.

'But – but that…doesn't make sense.' Natasha said with a frown as she followed him.

'No. It doesn't make sense _yet_.'

Natasha could feel a headache coming on and decided to just leave it for now.

'Just out of curiosity, did you ever talk to Jack about your theories about my ship?' The Doctor asked without looking away from the console.

Natasha nodded and went to stand near him. 'Yeah, he never said if I was right but I could tell from what he said he was impressed. Which kind of makes sense now if he knows you.'

The Doctor chuckled. 'Well hang on to something Natasha Francis. We're going to pick up a friend of mine.'

'What's her name?' Natasha asked as she took hold of the console.

'Amelia Pond.' The Doctor said as he hit one last button. Suddenly the TARDIS started making a whooshing-whirring noise and started moving.

Natasha shrieked with glee. 'Wow! This is amazing Doctor!'

'Isn't it! Now I left without saying anything so Amelia might be a bit cross with me.'

Natasha winced at this. 'You have a habit of that don't you?' She asked loudly over the noise.

'Why do you say that?'

Natasha shrugged. 'I told you, I researched you.'

The Doctor looked at her but was distracted when the TARDIS gave a thump and stopped making any noise.

'Let's go get Pond.' The Doctor said as he ran past her.

Natasha ran after him and then stopped when she was outside. 'Oh! We've moved! I mean I knew we had but still.' She looked around the garden in delight. It was true! It was _all_ true!

'Now hopefully she'll forgive me running off after stopping the world from being incinerated but you never know. Scottish after all.'

Natasha spun to face him. 'Wait. That's what you've just done?'

The Doctor nodded and straightened his bow tie. 'Yes. Atraxi. Silly things did they really think I'd let them get away with that?' He chuckled and looked at her. 'I showed them though.'

'But Doctor that incineration thing it was – '

Suddenly the door on the house next to them opened and a red headed woman a similar age to Natasha came running out and stopped on the step.

'Sorry about running off earlier.' The Doctor called out as he rubbed a speck of sand off the door. 'Brand new TARDIS, bit exciting. I was _going_ to take her to the moon to run her in but I ended up in Wales and got Natasha here.

The woman who was obviously Amelia came down to the gate and glanced briefly at Natasha before focusing on the Doctor.

'But she's ready for the big stuff now.' The Doctor said as he polished the sign on the door.

'It's you. You came back.' Amelia said in amazement. Natasha knew why she was so surprised but the Doctor didn't seem to know.

'Course I came back, I always come back. There's nothing wrong with that.'

'And you kept the clothes,' Amelia said as she came to stand next to them.

Natasha stared at him. 'Wait did you _steal_ those or something?'

The Doctor looked down at his clothes before giving them a slightly exasperated look. 'Well I just saved the world, the whole _planet_, for about the millionth time, no charge. Yeah, shoot me, I kept the clothes.'

'Including the bow tie,' Amelia said with mock snootiness.

'Yeah, it's cool.' The Doctor said as he adjusted the bow tie. 'Bow ties are cool.'

Natasha shrugged. 'It's kinda nifty.'

The Doctor gave her a quick grin.

Amelia scrunched her eyebrows in confusion. 'Are you from another planet?'

'Yeah,' the Doctor said quickly.

'Okay.'

'So what do you think?'

'What?' Obviously Amelia also had a hard time keeping up with his sudden changes in topic.

'Other planets, want to check some out?'

Amelia seemed really frustrated. 'What does that _mean_?'

'It means, well, it means, come wi' me. With us.'

'Where?' Amelia said with almost a hint of panic on her face.

'Wherever you like.' The Doctor said with a slightly happier tone of voice.

Amelia looked at the TARDIS. 'All that stuff that happened, the hospital, the spaceships, prisoner zero.'

The Doctor scoffed. 'Oh don't worry that's just the beginning there's loads more.'

Natasha knew where Amelia was going with this and figured the Doctor deserved whatever Amelia gave him.

'But those things, those amazing things all that stuff…' she paused and looked at the Doctor before stepping closer to him in anger, 'that was two years ago.'

'Ooh. Oops.' The Doctor said losing his smile.

'Yeah,' Amelia said loudly.

'So that's – '

'Fourteen years.'

'Fourteen years since fish custard.' Natasha looked at him in shock. Fish custard? That was what she had seen right before he landed on her beach. 'Amy Pond the girl who waited. I think you've waited long enough.'

Amy blinked at him a few times before looking back at the TARDIS. 'When I was a kid you said there was a swimming pool.'

'There's a swimming pool? Cool.' Natasha said looking at the TARDIS as well.

The red head glanced at her and then continued. 'And a library…'

'Ooh even better.'

'And the swimming pool was in the library.'

'Wait, what?' Natasha said with a frown that matched Amy's.

'Yeah, not sure where it's got to now. It'll turn up. So coming?'

'No…'

Natasha grinned. 'You don't sound so sure.'

The Doctor nodded. 'You wanted to come fourteen years ago.'

Amy just gazed at him. 'I grew up.'

'Don't worry,' the Doctor said with a slight laugh. 'I'll soon fix that.' He snapped his fingers and the TARDIS doors opened.

'Ooh snazzy.' Natasha said as the soft golden light fell on Amy's face.

Amy glanced at the two of them before slowly going inside.

Natasha glanced at the Doctor and saw how he was barely holding back his excitement. 'You love the first time people see inside, don't you?'

The Doctor grinned at her goofily. 'Best bit.' He followed Amy inside and Natasha followed him.

Natasha shut the door behind her and went to stand next to Amy so she could see her face.

The Doctor, who had wandered off came back when he realised Amy had stopped. 'Well, anything you want to say? Any passing remarks? I've heard them all.'

'I'm in my nightie.'

Natasha laughed a little at that and wondered if the Doctor had really heard that one before.

'Oh don't worry, plenty of clothes in the wardrobe, _and_ possibly a swimming pool.' The Doctor turned and went back up the few steps to the console. He jumped at the top and looked around the TARDIS. 'So…all of time and space, everything that ever happened or ever will. Where do you wanna start?'

After a moment Amy seemed to snap out of her TARDIS induced silence. 'You are so sure that I'm coming.' She walked up to him with a stern look.

'Yeah,' he said confidently before walking away from her again, 'I am.'

'Why?'

Natasha moved up to the console and sat in the seat next her bags. She was curious as to why he _knew_ Amy was coming.

'You're the Scottish girl in an English village, and I know how that feels.'

'Oh do you?' Amy said as she looked around the central pillar at him.

'All these years living here, most of your life and you still have that accent.' The Doctor pointed at her. 'Yeah, you're coming.'

Amy paused and seemed to think that over. 'Can you get me back for tomorrow morning?'

'It's a time machine, I can you back for five minutes ago. Why what's tomorrow?'

'Nothing, nothing. Just, you know, stuff.' Amy looked at Natasha curiously. 'What about you? Why did you come with him?'

Before Natasha could respond the Doctor spoke up. 'Same reason as you, nearly. Scottish girl but in a Welsh village. You still have your accent except she'd tried to get rid of hers. You want to go back, she wants to forget.' The Doctor paused briefly and looked upwards. 'So not really the same forget that bit. So, back tomorrow in time for stuff.'

There was a noise and part of the console slid out. The Doctor smiled and picked up a small pen shaped thing. 'Ooh a new one, lovely.' He pointed it and made it light up then he patted the console and whispered to it. 'Thanks dear.'

He flitted around and twiddled a few things before typing on an old style typewriter.

Amy was still enthralled with the TARDIS but managed to start asking questions again. 'Why me?'

'Why not?' Was the Doctor's quick reply.

'No seriously, you are asking me to run away with you in the middle of the night. It's a fair question. Why me?'

'I don't know. Fun. Do I have to have a reason?'

'You always have a reason.' Natasha said the same time as Amy said 'people always have a reason'.

The Doctor looked up at Amy. 'Do I look like people?'

'Yes.' Amy said immediately.

Natasha spoke at the same time again. 'No.'

The Doctor flashed Natasha a goofy grin before playing with the phone. 'Been knocking around on my own for a while, my choice, but I've started talking to myself all the time, it's giving me earache.'

Natasha frowned slightly at what his words hinted at.

Amy just came straight out with it. 'You're lonely, that's it?'

'Yeah.'

'Just that?'

The Doctor went round to Amy's side of the console. 'Just that, I promise.'

Amy watched him for a moment. 'Okay.'

'Yeah!' Natasha couldn't help but cheer. When the Doctor and Amy looked at her she shrugged. 'What? You turn up on my doorstep I'm gone in five minutes, come on you're the _Doctor_.'

The Doctor grinned at her again but Amy turned to look up at the TARDIS again.

Walking up next to her the Doctor watched her. 'So you okay then? 'Cause this place sometimes it can make people feel a bit…you know…'

'I'm fine it's just…there's a whole world in here, just like you said. It's all true. I thought, well I started to think that maybe you were just like a madman with a box.'

'Amy Pond there's something you better understand.' He turned to Natasha. 'You too Natasha Francis, because it's important and one day your life may depend on it…' the Doctor paused dramatically making Natasha lean forward in her seat eagerly. 'I am definitely a madman with a box.'

Natasha laughed a little and he copied her, Amy joining in a moment later.

The Doctor whirled to face the console and started flipping things again. 'Goodbye Leadworth. Hello…everything!' He flipped one last switch and the TARDIS started up again nearly jolting Natasha from her seat and the Doctor and Amy to the floor.

Natasha stood up and joined them at the console, revelling in the thrill of travelling with the _Doctor_ the time and space.

* * *

Natasha was leaning against the curved wall of the TARDIS. On her lap was one of her sketch pads and she was drawing the inside of the TARDIS. She'd only been with the Doctor for a little over an hour and Natasha already wanted to draw more than she had in years.

'Now do you believe me?'

Natasha looked up and saw that the Doctor had pulled Amy back inside. Okay flying around and visiting places was one thing but taking a spacewalk without a suit? No thank you.

'Okay, your box is a space ship. It's really, really a spaceship. We are in space! Woo!' Amy ended by shouting out the door. Then something else occurred to her. 'What are we breathing?'

'I've extended the air shell we're fine.' Natasha watched as the Doctor suddenly bent down and looked at something. 'Now that's interesting.' He leaped away from the door towards the console, talking full tilt as he did, Natasha followed behind him. 'Twenty nine century, solar flares roast the Earth and the entire human race packs its bags and moves out until the weather improves migrating to the stars.'

'That's amazing.' Natasha said as she watched mess with the console. 'That we can advance so far.'

'I couldn't agree more.' The Doctor agreed with a grin. 'Do you agree Amy?'

When there was no reply they both looked at the door to find Amy had gone.

Natasha ran to the door with the Doctor to find Amy clinging to the top of the doorway, floating out in space.

'Well come on, I've found us a space ship.'

* * *

A few minutes later they were parked and the Doctor was explaining that they couldn't interfere with things.

Natasha looked at the girl crying on the screen and decided to see if she was near the TARDIS. Going to the door she opened it carefully and saw the girl nearby. Suddenly the Doctor walked past her and out of the TARDIS. He tried to speak to the girl but she just walked off.

'Doctor?' Amy said from behind her, obviously still watching the screen.

The Doctor looked up and waved them over. Natasha immediately headed for him looking around the whole time.

When she reached the Doctor she stopped and looked up. There was a massive atrium style roof at the top of the area they were in. Through it Natasha could see a beautiful haze of colour and stars. 'Hundreds of the years in the future and we still look at the stars.'

'Well you do at any rate.'

Just then Amy came up to them. 'I'm in the future. I'm hundreds of years in the future. I've been _dead_ for centuries.'

'Oh lovely,' the Doctor said with disappointment. 'You're a cheery one aren't you? Never mind dead. Look at this place, isn't it wrong.'

Natasha frowned as he got up in their faces.

'What's wrong?' Amy asked leaning back slightly.

'Come on use your eyes, notice everything. What's wrong with this picture?'

Natasha looked around trying to figure out what the Doctor had seen. She spotted the girl the Doctor had tried to talk to further ahead and walked further on. 'That girl is still crying.'

'Says the girl in the nightie.' The Doctor said to Amy before stopping and looking at Natasha. 'What did you say?'

Natasha nodded towards the girl who had moved to an area with benches. 'She's still crying.' The Doctor pulled Amy forwards until they were next to Natasha. The Doctor looked at the girl and then suddenly grabbed a glass of water from the table next to them.

He promptly put the glass on the floor and watched it for a moment before putting it back and addressing the couple at the table. 'Sorry, checking all the water in this area. There's an escaped fish.' The Doctor came back to them and took an arm on either side of him. 'Come along girls.'

Amy was frowning at him again. 'Doctor why did you do that with the water?'

'I dunno, I think a lot, it's hard to keep track.' He pulled them closer to where the girl was sat. Now police state – do you see it yet?' He turned his head to aim his next at Natasha. 'You, have you figured out the rest yet?'

* * *

Natasha sat next to the Doctor who was between Amy and herself. They were sat a short distance from the girl who was still crying.

Amy still hadn't got it, which made Natasha wonder if she'd cried a lot as a kid. 'One little girl crying. So?'

'One girl crying silently. Kids might cry more than adults but they cry for a reason – to get attention. What do you think Natasha? You saw it?'

Natasha was looking around the market place still but answered. 'When kids cry silently it's because they can't stop.' She saw the Doctor smile approvingly.

'Correct. Any parent knows that.'

'Are you two parents then?' Amy asked curiously.

Natasha turned quickly to see the Doctor having almost the same reaction. Amy looked at her first for an answer.

Natasha turned away and looked up at the stars again. 'No.'

The Doctor just ignored the question. 'Hundreds of parents walking past this spot and not one of them is asking her what's wrong, which means...they already know, and it's something they don't talk about. Secrets. They're not helping her, so it's something they're afraid of. Shadows - whatever they're afraid of - it's nowhere to be seen, which means it's everywhere. Police state.'

Natasha barely heard the part of the conversation. She had more pictures in her head. A mask, two buttons with words on and a red cloak. There was also a large creature she didn't recognise.

'Natasha?'

Natasha shook her head and saw that the Doctor had vanished. 'Where did he go?'

The red head waved her arm back the way they had come. 'He's off…somewhere. He wants us to find the girl, Mandy, and ask her about those things in the booths.'

Natasha looked around Amy at the Booth Man nearby and shuddered. 'That thing creeps me out.'

Amy dropped next to her again. 'But it just a thing.'

'A creepy thing.' Natasha made herself look away from the booth. 'Well I am not running off god knows where I'll hang out here see if I overhear anything.'

'You're not coming with me?' Amy said as she stood up.

'Nope. I want to sketch something I saw.' Natasha reached into her canvas bag which was over her shoulder. 'People like watching artists, maybe someone will come over and I can ask about the booths.'

Amy nodded. 'Okay, well I'll see you back here then.'

Natasha nodded and started sketching the creature she had seen. It looked at bit like a whale and when Natasha thought that it seemed to ring true in her head. As she sketched Natasha sighed at the fact that her weirdness was making a comeback. Over the last few years it had gone away until she rarely had visions anymore. Now it seemed to be back with a vengeance.

Focusing on her drawing Natasha didn't realise how long she'd been drawing until a voice startled her.

'Nice picture.'

Natasha jumps and turns to find the girl from earlier sat next to her on the bench. 'Don't do that kid!'

Mandy just shrugged. 'I thought you saw me sit down.'

Natasha saw a smile tugging at the girl's mouth. 'No you didn't. You did it on purpose.'

'Maybe.' Mandy shrugged again. 'So what it is?'

Natasha looked down at the almost finished picture of the strange whale. 'I don't know yet. So, did my friend find you?'

Mandy looked at her picture as she replied. 'You're not going to pretend she wasn't following me?'

'Nah, no point. You obviously figured her out if you sat next to me. Where is she?' She decided to finish the picture later and put the pad away.

Mandy lost the slight smile she had and nodded towards the lift. 'In there. Watching the video.'

'What video?'

Natasha jumped again as the Doctor sat on her other side. 'What is it with people scaring me today?'

'Not doing it on purpose.' The Doctor said with the same look that Mandy had.

Natasha rolled her eyes. 'Yeah right. You're like a big kid, you know that?'

'Yeah, well, who'd want to grow up? That's boring.'

Mandy giggled and Natasha felt a smile tugging at her own lips.

'So where's Pond got to.'

Natasha pointed at the lift Mandy had indicated. 'In there apparently.'

Just then the lift doors opened and the Doctor quickly went over with Natasha and Mandy right behind him.

'Amy? What have you done?' When she didn't answer he went inside the lift poking around with his pen thing. Then he stood on the chair and used the pen on the lamp above.

Natasha made a mental note to ask him what that thing was exactly.

The Doctor looked at his pen and frowned slightly. 'Yeah, your basic memory wipe job. Must have erased about 20 minutes.'

'But why would I choose to forget?' Amy asked quietly.

'Cos everyone does. Everyone chooses the "forget" button.' Mandy said from next to Natasha.

Natasha looked down at her. 'Do you know what's on the video or is there an age limit?'

'I'm not eligible to vote yet. I'm 12. Any time after you're 16, you're allowed to the see the film and make your choice. And then, once every five years...'

'And once every five years, everyone chooses to forget what they've learned.' The Doctor scoffed lightly. 'Democracy in action.'

Mandy looked at Natasha and the Doctor. 'How do you not know about this? Are you Scottish too?'

'They are, I'm not, I'm way worse than Scottish. I can't even see the movie. Won't play for me.' The Doctor waved his hands in front of the screen.

'It played for me.' Amy said as she stood next him.

Natasha moved into the lift the look around and saw the Booth Man opposite the screen. 'Oh, creepy.'

The Doctor looked at her and then Amy. 'The difference being the computer doesn't accept me as human.'

'Why not?'

Natasha snorted in disbelief and looked at Amy with a raised eyebrow. 'Seriously? You've seen the TARDIS and you think he's human?'

'He looks human.'

'No, you look Time Lord. We came first.'

Time Lords…that must be his species then.

'So there are other Time Lords, yeah?'

Natasha saw pain flicker in the Doctor's eyes briefly. 'No. There were, but there aren't...just me now. Long story. There was a bad day. Bad stuff happened, and you know what? I'd love to forget it all, every last bit of it, but I don't. Not ever. Cos this is what I do - every time, every day, every second. This. Hold tight. We're bringing down the government.'

The Doctor slammed his hand down on the Protest button and then pulled them both into the corner as the floor starts to slide away. Opposite them the Booth Man turns to an obscenely creepy face.

The Doctor grins wildly at them. 'Say wheeeee!'

Natasha just clung to him and screamed with Amy as they fell.

Eventually they shot out of the end of the tube they were in and landed with a splash.

The Doctor was immediately on his feet. 'High-speed air cannon. Lousy way to travel.'

Natasha got to her own feet feeling a little dizzy. 'You are so lucky there's a waterproof lining to my bag Doctor.' Natasha wrinkled her nose as the smell registered. 'Oh god it stinks in here.'

'Where is here?' Amy asked as she accepted the hand up Natasha gave her.

'600 feet down, 20 miles laterally - puts us at the heart of the ship.' The Doctor sniffed loudly. 'I'd say... Lancashire. What's this, then - a cave? Can't be a cave. Looks like a cave.'

'It's a rubbish dump, and it's minging!' Amy picked a peeling of some kind of her shoulder and chucked it away.

'Yes, but only food refuse.' The Doctor sniffed again even loudly. 'Organic, coming through feeder tubes from all over the ship.'

Natasha watched in disgust as Amy knelt down to feel the floor. 'The floor's all squidgy, like a water bed.'

'But feeding what, though?'

A sudden, horrible thought came to Natasha. 'Er…Doctor question. Doesn't food usually go to one er…specific area?'

The Doctor and Amy both looked at her, although Amy still seemed a bit confused as she got to her feet again.

'It's not a floor, it's a...' The Doctor put his pen away and moved closer to them. 'So...'

'It's a what?' Amy asked nervously.

Natasha gulped and hoped he would say something completely different to what she was thinking.

'The next word is kind of the scary word. Take a moment. Get yourself in a calm place.' He took one their hands in each of his. 'Go "omm".'

Amy did this but Natasha just stood getting closer to panicking.

'It's a tongue.' The Doctor told them calmly.

'A tongue?' Amy said quietly.

Natasha winced. 'No, no, no.'

'Yes, yes, yes.' The Doctor said excitedly. 'A tongue. A great big tongue!'

'This is a mouth? This whole place is a mouth? We're in a mouth?!' Amy ended up nearly shouting.

Natasha tried to push it aside but kept coming back to that fact she was _in a mouth_. 'Well I suppose we should be grateful it hasn't swallowed us yet.

Amy froze. 'Swallowed? Did you just say swallowed? Doctor, she just said swallowed.' The Doctor just went on talking about the 'beastie'. 'Doctor! How do we get out?'

He looked over at them. 'Yes she did, but it's fine. OK, it's being fed through surgically implanted feeder tubes, so the normal entrance is...' The Doctor made his pen light up and looked around with it until he found the teeth. The closed teeth. 'Closed for business.'

'We can try, though.' Amy said suddenly starting towards the teeth.

'No! Stop, don't move!' The Doctor yelled belatedly as there was a distant noise. 'Too late. It's started.'

'What has?' Amy asked with a scared tone.

Natasha just stood stock still. 'Well, what do _you_ do when there's food in your mouth?'

Amy's eyes went wide and just then the large tongue heaved sending them to their knees. As they slipped around the Doctor zapped the 'walls' with his pen.

Amy yelled at him. 'What are you doing?'

'I'm vibrating the chemo-receptors.'

'Chemo-what?' Natasha asked as she and Amy helped each other up.

'The eject button.'

'Hell no!' Natasha yelled at the Doctor. 'No way Doctor! Undo it quick!'

'Too late.' The Doctor said as a huge wave of…stuff came at them. 'Right, then. This isn't going to be big on dignity. Geronimo!'

Natasha and Amy clung to each other and Natasha quickly turned away from the…stuff.

* * *

A couple of minutes later after sliding through another pipe Natasha found herself lying on another floor next to Amy. Thankfully she could see that this was a solid, non-tongue floor.

'There's nothing broken, there's no sign of concussion and yes, you are covered in sick.'

Natasha got to her feet and glared at the Doctor. 'You sound _way_ too happy about that. It's _puke_!'

'Where are we?' Amy asked as she stood as well.

'Overspill pipe, at a guess.'

Amy wrinkled her nose in distaste. 'Oh, God, it stinks.'

Natasha scowled and tried to ignore the smell. 'It's not the pipe Amy, it's us.'

Amy sniffed her arm warily and then quickly moved it away from her nose. 'Oh whoo! So, can we get out of here?'

'One door, one door switch, one condition.' He gestured at the door where a button had just lit up. 'We forget everything we saw. Look familiar? That's the carrot.' Suddenly two Booth Men light up. 'Ooh, here's the stick. There's a creature living in the heart of this ship. What's it doing there?' The men turned to show the angry faces. 'No, that's not going to work on me, so come on. Big old beast below decks and everyone who protests gets shoved down its throat. That how it works?'

The men turned again, this time they showed an almost demonic face. Natasha grabbed the Doctor's arm. 'Doctor, be careful. There is something seriously…_wrong_ with those things.

The Doctor patted her hand. 'Don't worry.' He looked back at the men. 'I'm not leaving and I'm not forgetting and what are you fellows going to do about it? Stick out your tongues?'

The booths opened and the two Booth Men start walking towards them.

Natasha backed up with the Doctor. 'Told you, I told you so!'

The Doctor looked at her in disbelief. 'Is now really the time?'

Suddenly a woman appeared next to them and shot the Booth Men getting their attention.

'Look who it is. You look a lot better without your mask.' The Doctor said to the woman.

The woman shook Amy's hand. 'You must be Amy. Liz. Liz 10.'

Amy nodded. 'Hi.'

Liz pulled her hand back and wiped it on her cloak. 'Eurgh!'

Natasha focused on the cloak the woman was wearing. It was red and looked the exact same as the one she'd seen in her head.

'Sorry I didn't get your name.'

Natasha realised Liz was talking to her and looked at the woman. 'Oh sorry, Natasha, I'd shake your hand but I am also suffering after effects of the Doctor's hasty plan.'

'Worked didn't it.' The Doctor said as Natasha picked a weird lump off her top.

Liz headed back to the door she'd come in and pulled it open to show Mandy stood there. 'You know Mandy, yeah?' Liz put her arm around the girl. 'She's very brave.'

The Doctor looked at Liz curiously. 'How did you find us?'

'Stuck my gizmo on you.' Liz tossed a device similar to the Doctor had at him. 'Been listening in. Nice moves on the hurl escape. So, what's the big fella doing here?'

'You're over 16, you've voted. Whatever this is, you've chosen to forget about it.'

Liz shook her head. 'No. Never forgot, never voted. Not technically a British subject.'

Natasha's eyes widened at that comment remembering things from her research. 'No way!'

The Doctor looked at her. 'What?'

She rolled her eyes at him and focused on Liz. 'That's so cool!'

Realising she wasn't going to tell him the Doctor turned back to Liz. 'Then who and what are you, and how do you know me?'

Liz laughed lightly. 'You're a bit hard to miss, love. Mysterious stranger, MO consistent with higher alien intelligence, hair of an idiot…' the women laughed as the Doctor went to argue but then ran his hands through his hair instead. 'I've been brought up on the stories. My whole family was.'

Natasha grinned as this confirmed even more of her timeline.

'Your family?' The Doctor asked, but just then one of the Booth Men started twitching.

Liz scowled at it. 'The Smilers are repairing, doesn't take them long. Let's move.'

Liz continues with her explanation as they leave the overspill pipe and head into the corridors beyond it. 'The Doctor. Old drinking buddy of Henry XII. Tea and scones with Liz II. Vicky was a bit on the fence about you, weren't she? Knighted and exiled you on the same day, although she liked your friend a little better. And so much for the Virgin Queen, you bad, bad boy!' She turned to throw a grin at the Doctor.

The Doctor seemed to be finally figuring out who she was. 'Liz 10?'

Behind them another Smiler left its booth.

Liz grinned again. 'Liz 10, yeah. Elizabeth X. And down!' Liz turned and shot the Smilers following them making them fall to the ground again. 'I'm the bloody Queen, mate. Basically, I rule.'

Natasha squealed slightly. 'This is awesome! I can nearly forgive you for covering me in sick Doc!'

Liz seemed highly amused with her attitude as she led them down another corridor. 'There's a high-speed Vator through there.' She points to the other end of the corridor but stops when the Doctor looks through some bars at a bizarre looking tentacle thing. 'Oh, yeah. There's these things, any ideas?'

Amy stood next to the Doctor. 'Doctor, I saw one of these up top. There was a hole in the road, like it had burst through, like a root.'

'Exactly like a root. It's all one creature - the same one we were inside - reaching out. It must be growing through the mechanisms of the entire ship.' The Doctor sounded sad about something but Natasha wasn't sure what.

Liz glanced at the tentacle. 'What? Like an infestation?'

The Doctor talked more to himself than them. 'Someone's helping it. Feeding it.'

'Feeding my subjects to it. Come on. We've got to keep moving.' Liz storms ahead, closely followed by Mandy and Natasha.

Natasha wanted to ask Liz questions but restrained herself when she saw the angry look on the Queen's face. She couldn't help but feel giddy when she thought of the fact that she was with _the Queen_! Fair enough she was the future Queen but still – the _Queen_!

Amy and the Doctor caught up with them and they carried on until they reached what must be Liz's private quarters.

'Why all the glasses?' The Doctor said asking the same thing Natasha wanted to know.

There were around forty glass filled with water all over the floor of the room.

Liz sat on her bed. 'To remind me every single day that my government is up to something, and it's my duty to find out what.'

The Doctor walked over to her bed and picked something up. 'A queen going undercover to investigate her own kingdom?'

Natasha moved closer and tried to control her face when she recognised the mask he was holding.

'Secrets are being kept from me. I don't have a choice.' Liz said sadly but firmly. 'Ten years I've been at this my entire reign – and you've achieved more in one afternoon.'

The Doctor started pacing up and down. 'How old were you when you came to the throne?'

'Forty. Why?'

Amy came away from the mirror she'd used to put her hair in a bun. 'What, you're fifty now? No way!' She sat on the chaise at the end of the bed with Mandy.

Liz grinned slightly. 'Yeah, they slowed my body clock. Keeps me looking like the stamps.'

'And you always wear this in public?' The Doctor sat next to Liz on the bed.

'Undercover's not easy when you're me. The autographs, the bunting.'

'Air-balanced porcelain.' The Doctor said as he looked closer at the mask. 'Stays on by itself, cos it's perfectly sculpted to your face.'

'Yeah. So what?' Liz asked with the confused tone Natasha was beginning to recognise as almost normal for people with the Doctor.

'Oh, Liz. So everything.'

Natasha realised the Doctor had figured something out, but before she could ask him about the door opened and four hooded men walked in.

Liz stood up in anger. 'What are you doing? How dare you come in here?'

The hooded man at the front spoke. 'Ma'am, you have expressed interest in the interior workings of Starship UK. You will come with us now.'

'Why would I do that?' Liz scoffed imperiously.

The man's head spun around making Natasha back up in horror. Instead of the human face it was now a Smiler's angry face.

Liz seemed horrified as well. 'How can they be Smilers?'

The Doctor didn't seem overly surprised. 'Half Smiler, half human.'

'Whatever you creatures are, I am still your queen.' Liz drew herself to her full height. 'On whose authority is this done?'

'The highest authority, Ma'am.' Was the slightly robotic reply.

'I _am_ the highest authority.' Liz said angrily.

'Yes, ma'am. You must go now, Ma'am.'

'Where?'

'The Tower, Ma'am.'

* * *

After five minutes of walking in silence the five of them, plus the four Smiler Men, reached a cavern like room.

Amy looked around in awe. 'Doctor, where are we?'

'The lowest point of Starship UK. The dungeon.' He spun around with his arms out and Natasha was slightly reassured by his relaxed demeanour. Hopefully that meant he knew how to fix whatever was going on.

Natasha ignored the others and walked around the room towards a large circular hole in the floor with a wall around it. She was drawn to it much the same way she had been drawn to the beach.

Looking inside the walled area Natasha saw what must be a brain. With a dawning revulsion Natasha opened her bag and pulled out her sketch pad. She looked at the picture and then at the brain that was being repeatedly hit with electricity. 'Oh no…' she whispered softly, 'what have they done?'

Natasha held back her tears as the others came to stand next to her at the 'well' and quickly put her drawing away again.

The Doctor stood next to her and spoke in a grim tone. 'Yeah, look at us. Torture chamber of the Tower of London. Lucky, lucky, lucky. Except it's not a torture chamber, is it?' He turned to look over some of the equipment. 'Well, except it is. Except it isn't. Depends on your angle.' The Doctor came back and stood next to Liz this time.

Liz looked down at the brain. 'What's that?'

'Well, like I said, depends on the angle. It's either the exposed pain centre of big fella's brain, being tortured relentlessly...' The Doctor paused.

'Or?' Liz asked looking at him.

The Doctor sighed, but answered. 'Or it's the gas pedal, the accelerator - Starship UK's go-faster button.'

Liz was just confused. 'I don't understand.'

'Don't you? Try, go on. The spaceship that could never fly, no vibration on deck. This creature - this poor, trapped, terrified creature. It's not infesting you, it's not invading - it's what you have instead of an engine. And this place down here is where you hurt it, where you torture it, day after day, just to keep it moving.' Natasha winced as another bolt of electricity repeatedly fired into the brain. The Doctor walked off and continued talking. 'Tell you what.' He lifted the grate that was holding back a tentacle. 'Normally, it's above the range of human hearing. This is the sound none of you wanted to hear.' He used his pen thing and the room was filled with what were undoubtedly cries of pain.

Natasha felt her tears break free and saw more pictures fill her head. Pictures of other strange whales which faded away until there was only one. Then there was a picture of Earth from space but instead of green there was brown.

Liz spoke up breaking Natasha's focus on the pictures. 'Stop it.' The Doctor stopped the noise…or rather stopped them hearing it. Liz turned to the man that seemed to be in charge. 'Who did this?'

'We act on instructions from the highest authority.'

Natasha was starting to hate that phrase.

Liz seemed just as annoyed by his response. 'I am the highest authority. The creature will be released, now. I said now!' None of the men in the room moved. 'Is anyone listening to me?'

The Doctor walked over to Liz holding the mask still. 'Liz. Your mask.'

She glanced at the mask in his hand. 'What about my mask?'

'Look at it. It's old. At least 200 years old, I'd say.' The Doctor tossed the mask to the Queen.

'Yeah, it's an antique, so?'

'Yeah, an antique made by craftsmen over 200 years ago and perfectly sculpted to your face. They slowed your body clock, all right, but you're not 50. Nearer 300. And it's been a long old reign.'

Liz shook her head in denial. 'Nah, it's ten years. I've been on this throne ten years.'

The Doctor moved next to her. 'Ten years. And the same ten years over and over again,' he took her hand and led her to the side of the room, 'always leading you...here.'

Natasha followed them and saw two buttons but these said Forget and Abdicate. Another picture came to her mind of the strange whale being contained and Natasha shuddered in horror.

Liz looked at the grey haired man again. 'What have you done?'

'Only what you have ordered. We work for you, Ma'am. The Winders, the Smilers, all of us.' The man turned on the screen and then stepped back.

Liz sat as a recording of herself played on the screen.

'_If you are watching this...If I am watching this, then I have found my way to the Tower Of London. The creature you are looking at is called a Star Whale. Once, there were millions of them._'

Natasha saw a picture almost exactly like the one she'd drawn appear on the screen.

'_They lived in the depths of space and, according to legend, guided the early space travelers through the asteroid belts. This one, as far as we are aware, is the last of its kind. And what we have done to it breaks my heart. The Earth was burning. Our sun had turned on us, and every other nation had fled to the skies. Our children screamed as the skies grew hotter.'_

Natasha closed her eyes but she saw what was on the screen in her head anyway.

'_And then it came, like a miracle. The last of the star whales. We trapped it, we built our ship around it, and we rode on its back to safety. If you wish our voyage to continue, then you must press the "forget" button. Be again the heart of this nation, untainted. If not, press the other button. Your reign will end, the Star Whale will be released, and our ship will disintegrate. I hope I keep the strength to make the right decision._

The recording ended and Natasha opened her eyes to find Amy looking distraught.

'I voted for this? Why would I do that?' Amy looked at the Doctor.

'Because you knew if we stayed here, I'd be faced with an impossible choice. Humanity or the alien. You took it upon yourself to save me from that. And that was wrong. You don't ever _decide_ what I need to know!'

Amy stared at him in dismay. 'I don't even remember doing it.'

'You did it. That's what counts.'

'I'm... I'm sorry.' Amy was close to tears at the anger in his voice.

'Oh, I don't care. When I'm done here, you're going home.' The Doctor turned away from her towards a panel of instruments.

Amy followed him desperately. 'Why? Because I made a mistake? One mistake? I don't even remember doing it. Doctor!'

'Yeah. I know. You're only human.' He said bitterly.

Liz watched him as he started doing something with the instruments in front of him. 'What are you doing?'

The Doctor scowled. 'The worst thing I'll ever do. I'm going to pass a massive electrical charge through the Star Whale's brain. Should knock out all its higher functions, leave it a vegetable. The ship will still fly, but the whale won't feel it.'

Natasha's jaw dropped in horror and moved closer to the brain again. 'But Doctor that will…'

The Doctor's scowl got fiercer but he didn't look up from what he was doing. 'Look, three options. One: I let the Star Whale continue in unendurable agony for hundreds more years. Two: I kill everyone on this ship. Three: I murder a beautiful, innocent creature as painlessly as I can. And then I find a new name, cos I won't be the Doctor anymore.' He ended on a very bitter tone.

Liz looked at him sadly. 'There must be something we can do, some other way.'

'Nobody talk to me. Nobody human has anything to say to me today!' Doctor yelled at her in anger before going back to what he was doing.

Natasha looked down at the brain and let her tears fall again. Her head was hurting as something tried to work its way in. She hadn't felt her weirdness this strongly for years. Natasha felt another compulsion wash over her and moved even closer to the well containing the brain. As she did Natasha got more pictures in her head and emotions with them, which she knew had to be coming from the star whale.

She saw the Earth slowly moving closer and felt the intense desire to help as she heard the echoes of children's cries.

Natasha gasped as the image faded and ran towards Liz. From the corner of her eye she saw Amy coming over as well. Natasha grabbed Liz's hand and pulled her back to the screen. 'Sorry Liz, I need your hand.' As she pushed Liz's hand onto the Abdicate button Natasha heard the Doctor shout at her.

The whale gave a loud bellow that they all heard and the entire ship shook.

The Doctor ran over to her. 'Natasha, what have you done?'

Amy went over to the grey haired man. 'She did nothing, am I right?'

The man looked in the screen and had a very shocked look on his face. 'We've _increased_ speed.'

Natasha smiled in relief. 'That's because you're no longer torturing the pilot.'

Liz looked around the room in confusion. 'It's still here? I don't understand.'

Natasha started beaming when a wave of happiness filled her mind briefly. 'The Star Whale didn't come like a miracle all those years ago Liz. He volunteered. He was alone and the cries of the children pulled him towards Earth. You didn't have to trap him or torture him - that was all just you. He came to you because he wanted to help the children. He came to you because he was _so_ old, and _so_ alone and _so_ kind, and he couldn't bear to let the children cry when he heard them.' Natasha looked up saw comprehension light inside the Doctor's eyes as he stared at her in astonishment. Natasha kept watching him as Amy started speaking.

'What if your whole race was dead, no future? What wouldn't you do then? If you were that old, and that kind, and the very last of your kind…would you be able to just stand there and watch children cry?' Amy was also looking at the Doctor clearly understanding the same things about him that Natasha had figured out.

* * *

Later Natasha was sat on the benches near the TARDIS looking up at the stars. She felt someone sit next to her and knew it was the Doctor. 'Imagine it Doctor…what it must have been like out there when there were so many of them.'

Doctor shifted next to her. 'Hmm.'

Amy walked up to them and gave the Doctor Liz's mask. 'From her Majesty. She says there will be no more secrets on Starship UK.' Natasha looked away from the stars to the mask.

The Doctor looked up and caught Natasha's eye. 'How did you know how the whale would react.' He glanced at Amy briefly. 'Amy put it together from things I'd said to her and things she saw. But you didn't hear or see half of those things. So…how did you know you wouldn't kill every person on this ship?'

Natasha had known she would have to explain her weirdness to him eventually, but she had hoped to put it off a bit longer.

She took a deep breath. 'I have this…weirdness. I get…visions I suppose you could say and these visions show me things I'll see in the future sort of like a warning. When we were sat watching Mandy I got pictures of Liz's cloak and mask in my head, the buttons from the cavern and a picture of the star whale.'

When she paused Amy sat opposite them stunned. 'Wow.'

The Doctor didn't look away from her. 'What else?'

Natasha took her drawing of the star whale out. 'I drew that from the picture in my head. In the cavern I was drawn to the brain well and I got a picture of the star whales disappearing. Then of him being contained within the ship. I closed my eyes during part of the video but I still saw it in my head. Then while you were…working the whale pulled me closer to the brain well again and flooded my head with pictures _and_ emotions. Of him hearing the children's cries and coming to Earth wanting to help. He was so alone Doctor and now he can hear the children all the time playing, laughing, _living_. After I'd pushed the button he sent a wave of…pure happiness into my head.' Natasha finished with a smile and watched the Doctor as he watched her.

'I still think there's something about you I've forgotten Natasha Francis.'

Amy cut in. 'It must be so cool to have that gift.'

Natasha turned and scowled at Amy. 'It is _not_ a gift. Yes it helped today but for the past few years I thought it had finally disappeared and I was pleased. Trust me Amy, it's not a gift.' Natasha took her sketch pad back from the Doctor and put it away. Then stood up and walked back to the TARDIS.

She knew she shouldn't have snapped at Amy, but this weirdness was in no way a gift, it was a damn curse.

* * *

As soon as the Doctor and Amy caught up with her at the TARDIS and he opened the door she went to the area underneath the stairs where she had stashed her bag earlier. Sitting on the floor against the wall Natasha turned to page in her sketch book and started sketching Liz X in her cloak.

She had barely started though when she heard Amy mention someone. Putting her stuff back in her bag Natasha went back up to the console and looked at Amy as the Doctor talked on the phone.

'Did you say Winston Churchill?

Amy grinned at her. 'Oh yeah.'

'Wicked!' Natasha said.

Suddenly Amy's face dropped. 'I'm still in my nightie.'

The Doctor hung up and pointed to one of the staircases going up. 'Wardrobe.'

Amy and Natasha looked at each and started running out, the Doctor yelled behind them.

'The TARDIS will bring out clothes in your sizes.'

Natasha came to a stop in the door way with Amy. The wardrobe wasn't as wide as the console room but it went higher and had similar walls as the main room. As the two of them moved closer and the racks of clothes started moving around and up and down until finally coming to a stop.

Moving forward Natasha looked at the nearest rack and saw the clothes were indeed her size. 'Well since he got us covered in star whale puke, I say we make full use of these clothes.'

Amy laughed as she looked through another rack. 'Too right. Plus, these clothes are amazing.'

'I know.' Natasha kept moving things aside a lot of it wasn't to her taste but then she found things she did like. She didn't vary her wardrobe choices much in style and wore what she was comfortable in. Natasha pulled a long sleeved peacock blue shirt from the wrack, flipped some more and found some blue jeans. After a few minutes she still hadn't found the last item she wanted and sighed in frustration. 'Oh come on, I only need a – '

Natasha broke off as the wrack moved to the side for a few seconds before stopping. In front of her were dozens of waistcoats.

'Thank you TARDIS!' Natasha said with glee and quickly grabbed a long black waistcoat. She turned to find Amy also had an armful of clothes.

Amy grinned at her. 'I wonder if the TARDIS does shoes?'

Seemingly in reply two doors opened to show them shelves of shows. Natasha and Amy squealed in delight and ran to look.

Natasha immediately grabbed a pair of black Doc Martins just like the ruined ones she had on. Amy grabbed a pair of shoes for herself then stopped smiling. 'Wait, we're still all…pukey.'

Natasha frowned as well. 'Well he must have a couple of bathrooms somewhere. Let's ask him and then…Winston Churchill here we come!'

Amy grinned with her and they ran out of the room.

This was going to be some much fun!

* * *

_Author Note – Okay *braces self* let me have it. Have I desecrated the sanctity of the Whoniverse or have I *smiles hopefully* added to it?_


	2. Gridlock Diversion

_Author Note – I spent freaking __ages__ trying to write Victory of the Daleks but for some reason that episode was being uncooperative. I quite like the Churchill character and was planning on having Amy and Natasha having an almost fangirl moment with him…oh well never mind, you've got this instead._

* * *

_**The word 'happiness' would lose its meaning if it were not balanced by sadness. – Carl Jung**_

* * *

Natasha wandered down a corridor in the TARDIS with Amy. 'So he said the first open door right?'

Amy nodded. 'Yep. I can't believe that not only is the TARDIS bigger on the inside but it's also telepathic.'

Natasha turned to grin at Amy. 'That must be how she knew what kind of clothes to show us.'

'Oh, look.' Amy pointed to an open door. 'That must be the bathroom.'

They walked inside and stopped to stare.

It was like the Holy Grail of bathrooms. It had long units on either side of the door that had all sorts of beauty equipment. From makeup and hairdryers to lotions and curlers. There were two sinks with mirrors above them and a large stand-alone mirror as well. Opposite the doorway were two large baths with a partition between them.

'Looks like the TARDIS wants us to get to know each other.' Natasha said as they put their new clothes down on the units.

'I'm down with that.' Amy said going over to one of the baths and then she laughed. 'This is like a guy's nightmare, makeup, baths and girl talk.'

Natasha laughed as well and started to run her bath. 'All we need is a bottle of wine and chocolates.'

Amy grinned. 'We'll do that next time.' Suddenly Amy straightened with a thoughtful look on her face. 'Hey, we weren't the only ones who got puked on. So why isn't the Doctor taking a shower or something?'

Natasha pulled a face. 'You don't think he's planning on seeing Churchill smelling that bad do you?'

The red head put her hands on her hips. 'The night he turned up when I was seven he wanted something to eat. Everything I gave him was spat out – mostly onto the floor.'

'Oh that's disgusting!' Natasha went to the bathroom door and looked down the hallway and yelled. 'Oi! Doctor!'

After a moment the Doctor appeared at the end of the corridor. 'You yelled?'

'Yes, I hope you're going to get cleaned up and changed too.'

The Doctor looked down at himself. 'Why what's wrong with this?'

Beside her Amy snorted. 'It's covered in whale vomit, that's what's wrong with it.'

'Ah, yes. Very well I'll go change.'

'And shower!' Natasha yelled as he disappeared before going back into the bathroom with Amy. 'I can't believe he was going to visit _Winston Churchill_ smelling like that.'

'Yeah well he thinks fish fingers and custard together are a delicious meal.'

'It's not, it's nasty.'

* * *

After they were settled in their baths Amy started talking through the partition. 'So about before, what I said about your…weirdness, I didn't mean – '

Natasha cut her off. 'It's all right I know you didn't mean to upset me. It's just a sore subject with me.' She poured a generous dollop of shampoo on her hand and lathered her hair. 'I've had it as long as I can remember, I used to think it was a gift too…'

'Did something happen…that you couldn't stop?'

'…yeah, it was just a curse after that.' Natasha paused to dunk her head under the water. When she came back up she spoke again. 'Anyway when I was about twelve my visions got really strong but about four years ago it faded until I thought it had actually gone.'

'So what exactly can you do?'

'Well I pictures and sort of 'films' just appear in my head out of nowhere. Most of the time I won't know what they mean until things actually happen. Sometimes I'll get emotions with them – '

'Like the star whale did.' Amy said obviously keeping track.

'Right. And other times I feel a sort of…compulsion to do something or go somewhere. When the Doctor landed on my beach I was out there because I felt a pull leading me there.'

There was a pause and Natasha heard what she assumed was Amy dunking her own head under water, a moment later Amy spoke again.

'I know you've got your reasons for not liking your…thing but you have to admit it's handy.'

Natasha started scrubbing with a lovely lavender bubble bath. 'I suppose, but what if we're running from something and I'm suddenly flooded with emotions or something. That would make me collapse.'

'Hmm…well I guess me and the Doctor will just have to watch out for you.'

Natasha paused in her washing as she thought that over. It had been a long time since she'd had anyone to watch over her. Even when she'd had someone though, Natasha had still relied mostly on herself. Over the last few years she hadn't even had friends. Natasha counted Jack as her best friend, but they hadn't even known each other's real names until last night.

'Natasha? Did you drown?'

Natasha laughed when she heard Amy's silly question. 'No, just thinking.'

'About what?'

'Just that…' Natasha hesitated but then figured she had to start trusting Amy and the Doctor sometime. 'It's just strange having someone to watch my back. I haven't had that in a while.'

'Well you do now.' Amy replied confidently. 'You can't get rid of me that easily.'

Natasha giggled. 'Yeah and it'd be hard to lose the Doctor when he can travel through time to find you.' She heard Amy start to laugh as well.

'If he turns up on time you mean, took him twelve years to find me and then he disappeared again.'

'I would have kicked him if he'd done that to me.' Right where it would hurt the most as well.

'I hit him in the face with a cricket bat.'

Natasha looked up in confusion. 'Have I got water in my ear or did you just say – '

'Cricket bat right to the face, knocked him out.'

The bathroom was filled with laughter as Amy told Natasha about everything she'd done with the Doctor.

* * *

'Sit.'

'But Amy I never wear – '

'Ah.' Amy gave her a threatening look so Natasha just gave in and sat down, trying not to pout like a child. 'That's better. You can't meet Winston Churchill without looking your best – so _you_ are getting some makeup on.'

'Fine, but no lipstick. I hate lipstick.'

'Fine. I'll just do your eyes…which are gorgeous by the way.' Amy peered into her eyes before picking up some makeup. 'I've never seen eyes that are silver and blue at the same time.'

Natasha shrugged. 'Don't know where I got them from. Everyone else in my family had hazel eyes.'

'Probably a throw back then. Close your eyes.'

Natasha did and let Amy have her way. 'I hope you realise I am _not_ doing this every time I leave the TARDIS. One time thing.'

* * *

Natasha walked back into the main room with Amy and sat near the console.

The Doctor looked at them. 'Right just a few more – ' he broke off and started looking in his pockets.

Amy frowned. 'Doctor? A few more what?'

The Doctor ignored them and pulled a sort of wallet from his pocket and looked at it with a frown. 'Ah.'

'Ah what?' Natasha asked him.

'It seems you're wanted elsewhere Natasha.'

'What?' She stood and went over to see what he was looking at. 'What is that?'

Before Natasha could see what he was holding the Doctor put the wallet back in his pocket. 'It's a message. Someone wants to see you.' He dashed down the stairs and rooted underneath the console. 'That devil.' The Doctor came back up holding up a leather strap.

'What is that and who is a devil?' Natasha asked but the Doctor just started putting it on her left wrist. 'Hey, hello?'

The Doctor blinked at her a couple of times. 'Oh right! It's a vortex manipulator it can make jumps through time and space.

Natasha lost her frown slightly. 'So it's like the TARDIS?'

The Doctor glared and bopped her on the head. 'No. The TARDIS is fish custard and this is beans.' He gave a scoff and started pushing buttons on the small screen attached to the strap. 'TARDIS indeed.'

Amy laughed and came over. 'Alright so it's like bad, evil beans. Why are you sending her away after getting a mysterious message?'

'Yeah, who wants to see _me_?' She only knew two time travellers, the Doctor and apparently Jack but he was in Cardiff.

'Not sure, but only a few people could contact me like this.' The Doctor stepped back and grinned. 'I'm sure whoever it is will be fun.'

Natasha frowned at him. 'But wait what – '

Suddenly Natasha felt like she was being pulled all over the place. When the feeling stopped Natasha went to the nearest corner and threw up. After another couple of dry heaves Natasha wiped her mouth and stood up. 'I'm going to kill him.'

Natasha walked away from the mess she'd made and looked around. The building she was in was lovely but looked like it had been abandoned for a long time.

'_Follow my friend, she will bring you to me.'_

Natasha spun around looking for who had spoken, then realised the voice had been inside her mind. 'What the hell?'

'Greetings.'

Turning quickly Natasha saw herself face to face with…a cat person. 'You're a cat!' Natasha slapped a hand over her mouth in embarrassment. 'Sorry! I didn't mean to say that!'

The woman, because it was female, just laughed lightly. 'It is no worry. I am Novice Hame my Lord said you came from the distant past and would be surprised by my appearance.'

'You're Lord? Is that the one who spoke into my mind?'

Novice Hame nodded. 'Yes he is. Please follow me Miss Francis.'

Natasha started walking with Novice Hame and shuddered slightly when she saw skeletons everywhere. 'What happened here?'

'The people of the planet all tried a new…drug. It mutated into a virus and killed almost everyone.' Novice Hame waved Natasha through a door ahead of her. 'I will let my Lord explain it more.'

Natasha walked forward into a room that had a lot of electrical panels everywhere. What drew her attention though was a large container in the corner. Inside was a…being that was almost entirely a face.

'_Come closer. You needn't be afraid.'_

Natasha shook her head as she went and sat on the floor near him. 'I'm not afraid. I'm not sure why but I suppose my weirdness is telling me I'm safe.'

'_I had almost forgotten you called your gift that.'_

Natasha scrunched her nose at the word gift. 'Some gift. Anyway, who are you?'

'_I am called the Face of Boe.'_

Natasha looked at him in shock. 'Wait…you're…_Jack_?' Given in to her urge Natasha laid a hand on the glass around Boe. Her mind was flooded with images of a man that must be Jack typing on a computer. Natasha realised Boe was showing her himself talking to her in the past. 'It _is_ you! Hey! I can't give you the slap I promised you for saying I should be blonde!'

There was a deep chuckle in her mind and the face before her shook slightly. _'You are just as I remember Sandy. It does me good to hear your voice at this time.'_

Frowning Natasha got comfier on the floor. 'What do you mean? And how old are you anyway?'

'_So many questions, so little time. You are in the year five billion, roughly.'_

Natasha felt her eyes bug out. 'No way! That's so cool.' She grinned at Boe. 'Looking good for your age Boe.'

'_If you say so Sandy. I am expecting another visitor soon, Novice Hame has gone to fetch him.'_ Natasha looked round and realised Hame had indeed left. _'I must tell you some things before he arrives. Also when you return to your own time you must get the Doctor to upgrade your laptop.'_

'What for and who is your other guest?'

'_The Doctor's younger self will be arriving. You will need the upgrade to talk to _my_ younger self.'_ Natasha felt amusement echo through her mind. Clearly Boe found her just as amusing now as he did in the past.

'Stop laughing at me or I'll kick your jar. Now what do I need to tell…you.'

'_When you meet both me and the Daleks – '_

'Wait. Daleks? Those killer tin cans that were flying around? I'm going to face them?'

'_Don't interrupt, but yes. At the end of that…adventure you must tell me to hide a spare vortex manipulator on the TARDIS the next time I'm on-board.'_

Natasha nodded. 'Okay, what else?'

'_Tell me to also hide a spare psychic paper there and not mention it until _after_ Vincent.'_

'Wait, I know you. You'll complain about that being enigmatic and vague. How do I get past that?'

Boe chuckled inside her mind again. _'I know I will. Just tell me the truth. That you have no idea and to argue with myself about it.'_

Natasha rolled her eyes but laughed. 'Yeah cos _that'll_ work.' She felt a burst of happiness that was tinged with sadness come from Boe and looked at him closer. 'What aren't you telling me Boe?'

'_Many things Sandy. I had wondered if I would ever see you again before…'_

Realising what he wasn't saying Natasha gasped. 'Oh! You're…dying.'

'_Do not dwell on it. I am almost five billion years old, and even I must have an end sometime.'_

Natasha smiled sadly. 'I can only imagine how many stars you must have seen Boe. It must have been…well like literally falling into forever.'

'_You never change, always looking to the stars. Now let me tell you of what is happening here…'_

* * *

Half an hour later Boe had filled Natasha in on everything and she was telling Boe about what she'd done on Starship UK with the Doctor and Amy when a loud shout broke the peaceful air of the room.

'Then get some more!' Natasha figured that was the Doctor. 'Where are we?'

Natasha listened as the Doctor all but shouted at Novice Hame. She looked at Boe and smiled. 'He seems a little more…intense in this regeneration.' Natasha whispered this not wanting to draw the Doctor's attention just yet. Boe wanted to surprise him and had warned Natasha not to mention his real name.

'There's not enough power to get them out.' Novice Hame's voice was closer. 'We did all we could to stop the system from choking.'

'Who's we? How did you survive?'

'He protected me. And he has waited for you, these long years.'

Boe projected his voice aloud. **'Doctor.'**

The Doctor ran into the room and looked pleasantly surprised and crouched beside Natasha, putting his hands on Boe's jar. 'The Face of Boe!' He glanced at Natasha but she just kept watching Boe. Her…gift was telling her he didn't have much longer left.

'**I knew you would come.'** Boe said happiness colouring his words.

Novice Hame came up behind them. 'Back in the old days, I was made his nurse as penance for my sins.'

The Doctor looked at Boe sadly. 'Old friend, what happened to you?'

'**Failing.'**

Natasha could tell that projecting his voice aloud was more tiring for him.

'He protected me from the virus by shrouding me in his smoke.' Novice Hame's gratitude was so strong it pushed into Natasha's mind slightly. 'But with no one to maintain it, the City's power died. The under-city would have fallen into the sea.'

'So he saved them.' The Doctor said quietly glancing at Natasha again.

'The Face of Boe wired himself into the mainframe. He's giving his life force just to keep things running.'

'But there are planets out there. You could have called for help.' The Doctor looked at Novice Hame in confusion.

Natasha spoke up for the first time. 'Before the Senate died they declared the planet unsafe. Automatic quarantine for a hundred years.'

'Who are you?' The Doctor asked Natasha.

'Just a friend that came for a visit.' Natasha waved her wrist to show him her manipulator. 'I'm glad I did now although I'm gonna make you pay for this Boe. I threw up when I arrived.'

That made Boe chuckle again and the Doctor looked surprised but turned back to Novice Hame. 'So the two of you stayed here, on your own for all these years.' The Doctor went and stood next to Novice Hame who seemed embarrassed.

'We had no choice.'

The Doctor touched her arm to make her look up. 'Yes, you did.'

'**Save them, Doctor. Save them.' **Boe begged of him.

The Doctor went into his 'hyper' mode and started rushing around.

Natasha turned to Boe. 'Here he goes, straight into action without any explanation.'

'_He has been that way since I first met him in 1941.'_

She laughed. 'Yep, still the same. Although I think maybe you're the first person who knows more than him.'

This set Boe off laughing and Natasha saw the Doctor look over at them briefly. 'Who are you anyway? You never said.'

'No I didn't.'

The Doctor looked up from some wires when he realised she wasn't going to elaborate. 'And?'

Natasha played innocent. 'And what?'

The Doctor frowned at her. 'Do you know me?'

'Lots of people know you.'

The frustration was clear on his face as he went back to wiring. 'Yes but do you _know_ me or do you just know _of_ me.'

'Yes.' Natasha replied holding back a smile.

The Doctor stopped again and looked at her in confusion. 'Wait. Yes, you _know_ me or yes you know _of_ me?'

'Yes.'

'But that's not an answer!'

Natasha finally let out her laughter. 'I know, but I can't resist. It's too funny.'

He scowled at her and went back to fiddling with the computer he was next to. A few minutes later he was looking at the now working computer. 'Car four six five diamond six. It still registers! That's Martha. I knew she was good. Novice Hame, hold that in place.' The Doctor gestured to a lever he was holding. Novice Hame left Boe's side and did as the Doctor asked. The Doctor started moving a large cable around. 'Think, think, think, think. Take the residual energy, invert it, feed it through the electricity grid.'

Novice Hame shook her head. 'There isn't enough power.'

The Doctor started pushing buttons. 'Oh, you've got power. You've got me. I'm brilliant with computers, just you watch. Hame, every switch on that bank up to maximum. I can't power up the city, but all the city needs is people.' The Doctor hit a box he was working on and stood up.

'So what are you going to do?' Novice Hame asked still holding the lever.

'This!' The Doctor flipped a big switch he'd messed with but the power suddenly went out. 'No, no, no, no, no, no, no.'

He quickly dropped next to the box he had hit and opened it up. 'The transformers are blocked. The signal can't get through.'

'**Doctor.'** Boe said trying to get his attention.

'Yeah, hold on, not now.'

'**I give you my last.'** Natasha felt a wave of desire to help flood her mind as Boe gave a large heaving breath. As Boe did this the power came back on.

The Doctor jumped and looked at Novice Hame as he went to work. 'Hame, look after him. Don't you go dying on me, you big old face! You've got to see this. The open road. Ha!'

The Doctor moved to a monitor and picked up a microphone. 'Sorry, no Sally Calypso. She was just a hologram. My name's the Doctor. And this is an order. Everyone drive up. Right now. I've opened the roof of the motorway. Come on. Throttle those engines. Drive up. All of you. The whole under-city. Drive up, drive up, drive up! Fast!'

Natasha smiled as the Doctor got more excited with every word. But kept her eyes on Boe and Hame. The Novice was working desperately to try and keep Boe going.

The Doctor kept talking into the microphone. 'We've got to clear that fast lane. Drive up and get out of the way. Oi! Car four six five diamond six. Martha! Drive up! You've got access above. Now go!'

Natasha heard a vaguely Irish voice come over the speaker. _'Did I tell you, Doctor? You're not bad, sir. You're not bad at all! Oh, yee-hah!_

The Doctor grinned and made his way to the window still talking. 'You keep driving, Brannigan. All the way up. Because it's here, just waiting for you. The city of New New York, and it's yours. And don't forget I want that coat back.'

Natasha lost track of the Doctor talking as she felt Boe's presence in her mind start to waver. A moment later a large crack appeared in the glass.

Novice Hame got the Doctor's attention. 'Doctor!'

The Doctor turned away from the window and came over, dropping his microphone. More cracks appeared in the glass and he quickly pulled Hame and Natasha away.

As soon as the glass shattered Natasha went back to Boe's side. Ignoring the glass that cut into her knees Natasha carefully brushed as much glass as she could off of Boe.

'**Don't hurt yourself…because of me Sandy.'**

Natasha ignored him and kept wiping off the glass. 'Can't have you looking like a drunk who's been in a fight. Fan girls and guys everywhere would weep.' She tried to laugh but it got stuck in her throat.

There was a low chuckle from Boe and Natasha managed to smile as he spoke. **'Perhaps…but you're the only girl…for me.'**

'Aw, so many disappointments.' Natasha felt a few tears slip free despite her smile. 'However will…however…' She shook her head and gave up.

'**You will see me…again…many times.'**

'You would know.'

Suddenly a voice called from another room. 'Doctor?'

'Over here.' The Doctor said looking up.

A young black woman came in. 'Doctor! What happened out there?' She stopped when she saw Boe on the floor. 'What's that?'

The Doctor looked back at Boe. 'It's the Face of Boe. It's all right. Come and say hello. And this is Hame. She's a cat. Don't worry. He's the one that saved you, not me.'

The woman that must be Martha knelt between Hame and Natasha.

'My lord gave his life to save the city, and now he's dying.' Hame seemed to be fighting tears of her own.

'No, don't say that. Not old Boe. Plenty of life left.'

'**It's good to breathe the air once more.'**

Martha looked from Boe to the Doctor. 'Who is he?'

'I don't even know.' The Doctor looked at Natasha.

Without looking away from Boe she shook her head. 'Some stories have to be lived. But Boe has lived a very, _very_ long time.' Natasha ran a hand slowly across Boe's cheek trying to give him some comfort.

The Doctor gave a slight smile towards Boe. 'And you're not about to give up now.'

'**Everything has its time. You know that, old friend, better than most.'**

'The legend says more.' Hame said with a slightly serious tone.

'Don't. There's no need for that.' The Doctor apparently knew what she was going to say.

'It says that the Face of Boe will speak his final secret to a traveller.'

The Doctor had a touch of pleading in his voice as he spoke. 'Yeah, but not yet. Who needs secrets, eh?'

'**I have seen so much. Perhaps too much. I am the last of my kind, as you are the last of yours, Doctor.'**

'That's why we have to survive. Both of us. Don't go.' The Doctor watched Boe with shadows in his eyes. Natasha wondered briefly what had happened to put them there.

'**I must. But know this, Time Lord the Thunderous Rain will come.' **Boe spoke his last four words with his mouth.** 'You are not alone.'**

Boe gave one last breath and then…stopped. Beside Natasha, Novice Hame started weeping quietly.

Natasha barely noticed the Doctor stand up. Instead she leaned over Boe and kissed his large cheek. 'Goodbye old friend,' she paused to dash away her tears, 'I'll see you soon.' Natasha sat for some time just stroking Boe's cheek. Eventually she pulled herself together and stood up walking out of the room.

In the next room Natasha stopped and wiped away the last of her tears. She was startled when someone touched her arm. Spinning around she nearly decked the Doctor who hastily stepped back. 'Doctor. You really shouldn't creep up on people like that.'

'Sorry. I just wanted to see if you were alright.'

Natasha ignored the question and looked behind him. 'Where's your friend?'

'With Novice Hame. You avoided my question…again.'

Natasha sighed and rubbed her eyes. 'Yes, when people do that it's because they either don't want to answer or the answer should be obvious.' The Doctor blinked at her and Natasha realised she had snapped at him. 'Sorry. In my case the answer is obvious. My best friend in the whole world…the whole of time and space just died. So the answer is no, I'm not alright.'

The Doctor looked at her for a moment before speaking. 'You do know who he is, don't you?'

'Yes, and no I'm not telling, you'll find out eventually I think.' Natasha looked back towards the room she had come from. 'The first thing I'm doing when I get home is call him.'

'Do you need a lift somewhere?'

Natasha shook her head and laughed. 'Some _when_ would be a better way to put it, but no, I've got this,' she tapped her manipulator, 'that'll get me home. See you around Doctor.'

Natasha quickly hit the button Boe hold told her to and felt that awful pulling take her over. A split second later Natasha reappeared on the walkway of the TARDIS right next to Amy who gave a little scream.

Feeling her stomach protest Natasha ran up the stairs and into the first open door. Thankfully it was a bathroom, perhaps the TARDIS had put one close by for her. A few minutes later Natasha came out of the bathroom and went back to the main room.

The Doctor and Amy looked up. 'How long was I gone?' Natasha wasn't sure since she had only been with Boe a couple of hours at most. Boe had warned her though that it might be different when she came back.

The Doctor glanced at his watch. 'Exactly one day. Now the message I got said you're not allowed to tell me where you went.'

Natasha nodded and picked up her bags. They were still were she had left them when she first came aboard. 'Yep. So don't ask.' She flung her duffel over her shoulder and pulled her laptop from the canvas bag. 'Can you upgrade this for me? I want to get in touch with Jack see if he got my message. I want to tell him about Liz X and everything.' Natasha made herself smile.

The Doctor gave her a goofy grin and aimed his sonic screwdriver at her laptop. 'Sure, there you go. Tell Jack I said hi.'

Natasha nodded. 'Is it alright if I claim a bedroom? My stomach is still a bit off from this stupid vortex thing.' Remembering something else Natasha removed the manipulator and tossed it to the Doctor. 'Apparently you need to put that back where you found it.'

'Okay will do, and the TARDIS will show you a bedroom, first open door and all that.'

Smiling a bit Natasha turned and walked back up the stairs. After passing quite a few doors she finally came to an open one. Going inside Natasha came out of her slump for a moment. The bedroom was a decent size and was decorated in shades of blue and cream, coupled with the antique wooden furniture the room felt very relaxing which was exactly what Natasha needed right now.

Dropping the duffel to the floor Natasha sat on the bed and opened her laptop. As soon as she hit the power button it turned on to the password screen. It was a lot quicker than before.

After logging in Natasha went to her emails and found a message from Jack.

_Hey Sandy!_

_First off – I've added an encryption to your laptop, as soon as you opened this email it uploaded to your laptop. So now we can talk about anything without any risk of being spied on._

_So onto the real message - I can't believe you've met the Doctor! AND he's took you away with him. I knew I liked you for a reason. _

_You can totally trust me…sort of. Nice lace by the way. Sorry couldn't help myself. Your house is all taken care of. Got rid of all the food and what not, but I ate the chocolate._

_And I know what you mean about the Doctor. He's…beyond words really isn't he?_

_I've put a link at the bottom of the message click on it and it will install a live chat program that will connect you to me at my workplace._

_Can't wait to talk face to face Sandy._

_Always at your service._

_Captain Boe_

Natasha scrolled to the bottom of the message and clicked on the link. After a minute or so a new icon appeared on her desktop. Natasha laughed when she saw that the icon was a little picture of a pair of lips. She clicked on it and the screen went black with a loading symbol in the middle.

After a moment an image appeared. There was a large tiled room but no person. Natasha figured the connection had automatically opened and decided to just call out and see who was there.

'Er…hello? Anyone there?'

A woman with dark hair appeared on screen. _'Who the hell are you?'_ She had a very strong Welsh accent.

'I'm a friend of Boe's er…Jack's is he around?'

'_How did you connect to the Hub?'_

'Jack sent me a link. If you get him I'm sure he'll tell you.'

The suspicious woman looked at her for a moment before disappearing out of view. A short while later Natasha thought she heard a man's voice off screen and then just after that a tall dark haired man appeared on screen. Very handsome and wearing a long navy air force coat over his clothes Jack looked just like in the memories future Boe had shown her.

Natasha smiled widely. 'You must be my Captain Boe.' On the screen Jack was just staring at her. 'Oi, Earth to Boe. Hello?'

Jack snapped out of it and grinned. _'Well, well, well. I think we were destined to meet cupcake.'_

Natasha rolled her eyes at the screen. 'Don't try any more cheesy pick-up lines on me Boe. You know they don't work.' She couldn't help but beam at him, beyond happy to see him alive and well.

'_It's not a pick up line Sandy. It's the truth. I've met you before.'_

Natasha frowned. 'Wait…I don't remember meeting you before.' Well aside from his future self.

On screen Jack was laughing out loud. _'Time travel cupcake. It hasn't happened for you yet, so I can't tell you anything about it.'_

Groaning Natasha rubbed her temple. 'It's so confusing. I was just in the year five billion-ish and met the Doctor. So to recap. You've met _my_ future self in your _past_, and I've met the Doctor's _past_ self in the _future_…I have a headache.'

'_You should write everything in your diary.'_

'What diary?' Natasha had never kept a diary.

'_Oops, looks like I've told you something you haven't started yet.'_ Jack pulled a chair over and sat down adjusting the camera as he did. _'First time I met you, you said you kept track of everything in a diary.'_

'Okay, seems a good idea…but now you've told me something…screw it I'm not even going to try.'

That set Jack off laughing again. _'Tell you what Sandy, you're just as funny face to face as you were in messages.'_

'Talking of messages…keep away from my underwear!' Natasha said tapping the screen lightly. 'I owe you two slaps now.'

'_Why two?'_

Natasha rolled her eyes. 'One for looking at my underwear and one for the blonde hair comment.'

Suddenly another man appeared next to Jack. _'Who you talking to?'_

'_Owen this is my friend Natasha. Sandy this is Owen, we work together.'_

'Hey Owen.' Owen nodded and then was shoved out the way by two women. One was the woman who had fetched Jack and the other was an Asian woman.

'_This is Gwen, she answered your call, and this is Toshiko. She's the one who added the encryption programme to my email and the link for calling me. Ladies this is my best friend Natasha.'_

'Hi Gwen, Toshiko.'

'_Tosh is fine. It's nice to finally meet you, Jack's mentioned you a lot over the years.'_

Gwen snorted._ 'Yeah, this last week though he's done nothing but talk about how you ran off with the Doctor and didn't invite him.'_

Natasha laughed as Jack pouted. 'Oh come on Jack. I'm sure I'll have adventures with you too. You've already told me about one.'

'_Not the same Sandy, I've already done that.'_ Jack's co-workers looked confused. _'But if I can get my manipulator working I could pop in and take you places I suppose.'_

Natasha smiled at that. 'You asking me on a date Boe?'

'_No. If I do that you'll hit me…you're gonna hit me anyway.'_

'You know you deserve it.'

Suddenly Owen pushed into the screen again. _'Why do you keep calling Jack Boe?'_

'_It's the screen name I use. When I was younger I became the first Time Agent out of this tiny place called the Boeshane Peninsula, they called me the Face of Boe.'_

Natasha felt her face fall slightly, remembering what she'd just seen.

Jack apparently spotted her sad look. _'What's wrong Sandy? You look upset.'_

'Nothing I'm fine, just…nothing.'

Jack frowned into the screen for a moment. _'Hold on.'_ He tapped a couple of buttons and the screen went blank briefly before showing what looked like a meeting room. Jack reappeared and turned the laptop she now seemed to be viewing things from. _'There we go, bit more private. Now, what's wrong?'_

Natasha shook her head. 'Just…I've just come from the year five billion-ish like I told you and something…sad happened there is all. I'll be fine.'

Jack leaned into the camera a little. _'You sure? I don't like when you get upset kiddo. You lose all your sparkle.'_

'I'm fine. Talking to your gorgeous self helps though.' Natasha gave Jack a genuine smile.

'_Well that's alright then. So tell me, what has happened since you ran away with the madman in a box?'_

Natasha grinned and spent the next hour telling Jack all about Liz X and the Star Whale. She had to explain her weirdness to him in more detail since she had always skimmed over it. Jack didn't call it a gift though since Natasha had told him before about why she hated it.

* * *

Eventually after Jack had synced her laptop to his so they kept the same time, Natasha and Jack said goodbye with her promising to get in touch after every adventure she had.

Natasha had just started working on her new diary when there was a knock at the bedroom door. 'Come in,' she called without looking up.

'Hey there.' Amy said as she walked in. 'You done talking with your friend?'

'Hey Amy, and yes I am.' Natasha patted the bed in front of her. 'Have a seat I want to know all about Winston Churchill.'

'It was great. Well aside from the Daleks.'

Natasha stopped typing and looked up. 'Wait Daleks? There were Daleks?'

Amy frowned. 'You know what they are?'

'Well yeah,' Natasha said with a frown. 'They were flying all over London a few years ago. How did you _not_ know what they were?'

Amy shrugged. 'I don't know. The Doctor said I should remember them but I don't.' Amy looked at Natasha's laptop. 'What are you writing anyway?'

'Oh. Well I've decided to start keeping a diary of everything I do. Time travel and all, might make it easier to keep track. If you tell me about Churchill I can add that in.'

'But it's a diary of your adventures, not mine.' Amy shifted to lean against the head board beside Natasha.

'Yeah, but if I know what you and the Doctor are doing here, I can always know what's going on. Besides I'm nosy so tell me.'

Amy laughed and filled Natasha in on everything. They stopped partway through and went looking for the kitchen. When they had found it they grabbed a big packet of jelly babies and couple of glasses and a large bottle of fizzy pop. Retreating to Natasha's room again they settled back on the bed and carried on talking.

The whole time though Natasha kept wondering why Amy couldn't remember the Daleks. She also kept thinking of Jack, and Boe. She decided to take Boe's words to heart. He had lived for billions of years, and everything had to have end. Jack's end was a long way off and he had a lot of adventures to come before then.

* * *

_Author Note – I'm a softy. I always cry when I watch the end of Gridlock and I cried writing my version of it. I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I'm going to ignore all the character deaths in Torchwood – I like them all so they'll get mentioned._


	3. Stone and Flesh

_Author Note – Thank you so much for all the favourites and follows, and for my reviews. Please let me know what you think it helps me write better stories. Emjoy!_

* * *

_**Friendship is born at that moment when one person says to another: 'What! You too? I thought I was the only one.' – C.S. Lewis**_

* * *

'Okay, we did a spaceship in the future,' Natasha said as she and Amy followed the Doctor around the museum.

Amy nodded as they walked arms linked. 'And we did Churchill's bunker, while Natasha had her mystery adventure.'

'Can we _please_ do another planet now?'

'Wrong. Wrong. Bit right, mostly wrong. I love museums.' The Doctor apparently wasn't listening and was dashing ahead of them pointing a various displays in the large room.

Amy sighed moved them over to him again. 'You promised us a planet next.'

'Amy, Natasha, this isn't any old asteroid. It's the Delerium Archive, the final resting place of the headless monks. The biggest museum _ever_. '

Natasha rolled her eyes at him. 'Why _look_ at relics when we could go _see_ them being _made_?'

The Doctor just ran on to the next display case. 'Wrong. Very wrong. Oooh, one of mine. Also one of mine.'

'Oh, I see.' Amy looked at Natasha who nodded to show she'd cottoned on as well. 'It's how you keep score.'

The Doctor just kept ignoring them as his attention was caught by a large, rusty box.

'Yey!' Natasha said with fake enthusiasm. 'Just what I always wanted. An old box.'

The Doctor shot her a look as Amy laughed. 'It's from one of the old Starliners. A Home Box.'

'What's a Home Box?' Amy asked still smiling slightly. They both enjoyed teaming up against the Doctor, despite having different personalities.

'Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home Box flies home with all the flight data.' He made a flying motion with his hand as if to demonstrate.

Natasha propped herself against the case and looked at it. 'So this ship crashed or something? Why's that so interesting?'

'The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords.' The Doctor's voice took on a storytelling air. 'There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires, and topple gods.'

Amy looked down at the box with a little more interest. 'What does it say?'

The Doctor looked at them with resignation. 'Hello, sweetie.'

Natasha grinned. 'Hello sweetie? That's not a message most archaeologists find.'

'No.' The Doctor sighed and looked around. 'Okay. Get ready to run.'

Amy stood up straight. 'What? Why?'

'Because I'm about to do this.' He took out his sonic and aimed it at the glass making it shatter and set of a loud alarm. 'Run. Run!' The Doctor grabbed the box and they all set off running for the TARDIS. When they got inside Natasha slammed the door shut and joined Amy and the Doctor at the console.

'Why are we doing this?' Amy asked as the Doctor started attaching cables to the box.

'Because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract my attention. Let's see if we can get the security playback working.'

The screen flickered to life and the watched, the Doctor occasionally changing which camera view they were watching things through.

'_The party's over, Doctor Song, yet still you're on board.' _That was a man's voice.

The confident woman on the screen just smiled slightly. _'Sorry, Alistair. I needed to see what was in your vault. Do you all know what's down there? Any of you? Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach its destination.'_

The Alistair guy sounded really smarmy. _'Wait till she runs. Don't make it look like an execution.'_

The woman, Doctor Song, ignored him and looked at something on her wrist. _'Triple seven five slash three four nine by ten zero twelve slash acorn._' Doctor Song primped her hair and looked at the camera. _'Oh, and I could do with an air corridor.'_

The Doctor dashed around to a keyboard. Natasha grinned as she watched. 'Doctor is she…talking to you?'

'What was that? What did she say?' Amy asked as she looked at the screen.

The Doctor grinned and set the TARDIS off. 'Yes she is and coordinates.'

Doctor Song spoke to the smarmy man again. _'Like I said on the dance floor, you might want to find something to hang on to.'_ Natasha grinned, this Doctor Song seemed like someone she could get along with.

Just as the TARDIS materialised somewhere Doctor Song blew a kiss at Alistair and the hatch behind her blasted open.

Natasha looked away from the screen as the Doctor ran to the door and opened it. Doctor Song flew through the door and knocked him to the floor, landing on top of him.

Amy walked towards them and folded her arms. 'Doctor?'

He just looked at the woman on top of him. 'River?'

Doctor Song just stood up and looked out the still open door. 'Follow that ship.'

The Doctor and Doctor Song dashed back to the console leaving Amy to shut the doors. They frantically started flipping switches and moving levers, making Natasha wonder how Doctor Song could fly the TARDIS.

Doctor Song had taken her killer heels off and hung them over the bar of the manoeuvrable screen. 'They've gone into warp drive. We're losing them. Stay close.'

'I'm trying.' The Doctor said as he pulled a lever.

'Use the stabilisers.'

'There aren't any stabilisers.'

'The blue switches.' Doctor Song told him without looking up.

'Oh, the blue ones don't do anything, they're just _blue_.' He hit the buttons in question but didn't push them.

'Yes, they're blue. Look, they're the _blue_ stabilisers.' Doctor Song talked to him like he was five, which Natasha couldn't help but giggle at. Doctor Song hit the buttons and the noises that Natasha liked so much stopped.

Natasha sighed and plopped onto a seat. 'Aww. They're not stabilisers. They're boringers.

'Yeah exactly. It's just boring now, isn't it?' The Doctor looked at Natasha and then back to Doctor Song. 'They're boringers. They're _blue_ boringers.'

Amy looked at Doctor Song and then walked over to the Doctor. 'Doctor, how come she can fly the TARDIS?'

'You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!' The Doctor came over and sat next to Natasha, folding his arms in a huff.

'Okay.' Doctor Song kept flipping and pushing things. 'I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to its destination, and parked us right alongside.'

Natasha was impressed, clearly whoever Doctor Song was she was smart. It made Natasha wonder what qualifications she had that made her a Doctor.

The Doctor stood up and went to Doctor Song. 'Parked us? We haven't landed.'

'Of course we've landed. I just landed her.'

'But, it didn't make the noise.'

She seemed confused. 'What noise?'

'You know, the…' The Doctor made a very strange noise that sounded a little like the materialisation noise the TARDIS usually made.

'It's not supposed to make that noise. You leave the brakes on.'

Natasha started giggling and got up to stand next to Doctor Song. 'Seriously? I thought that was normal.'

The Doctor gave her a mock glare. 'Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise. Come along, Pond, Francis. Let's have a look.'

Natasha immediately followed the Doctor eager to see where they were.

'No, wait.' Doctor Song called after them. 'Environment checks.'

'Oh yes, sorry. Quite right. Environment checks.' The Doctor stuck his head out the door and sniffed. 'Nice out.'

'We're somewhere in the Garn Belt.' Doctor Song was looking at the screen again. 'There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that…'

'We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra System. Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven hour day and chances of rain later.'

Doctor Song looked at Amy with an exasperated expression. 'He thinks he's so hot when he does that.'

Natasha held up a hand. 'I think he's hot when he does that.'

Natasha then ignored the Doctor as he walked back to the console she walked outside and looked around. They were on a sort of rocky beach next to the sea. As she turned Natasha saw a large cliff with a temple-ish things carved into it. At the top however the ship Doctor Song had been on was crashed into the rock. Pieces of debris were scattered across the flat beach they were on. As Natasha looked up at the wreckage she felt someone approach her.

'He'll tell you off for leaving the TARDIS.' Doctor Song stood next to her, shoes in hand and looked at the wreckage as well.

Natasha just scoffed. 'Please, in the short time I've been with him, I've been covered in whale vomit, had my strongest psychic episode in nearly eight years, and saw his past self in the future.' She looked at Doctor Song who was grinning at her. 'Like I'm gonna worry about walking out the door.'

There was a sudden shout. 'Natasha! I nearly left you behind!' The Doctor ran up to her, followed by Amy. 'You shouldn't have left the TARDIS.'

Natasha shrugged. 'It's a beach Doctor. And if you'd left me I would have sent you a _way_ worse message than 'hello sweetie'.'

Doctor Song and Natasha laughed together and the Doctor suddenly got a weird look on his face. He stepped right in front of Natasha and looked closely into her eyes. 'I know.'

'Know…what?' Natasha was confused by his suddenly serious attitude.

'I know what I had forgotten about you.' He suddenly grinned, the serious attitude gone. 'Ohhh. I like you.' Then he was frowning again, this time at Doctor Song. 'You're a bad influence on her.'

Doctor Song smirked. 'Spoilers.'

'Wait, hang on. What did you remember?'

The Doctor looked back at Natasha with a smile. 'Can't tell you none of them have happened for you yet. I'm kinda looking forward to something you promised.'

Natasha frowned and tried to muddle through what he was saying. 'So…you've remembered meeting me in your past?' He nodded at her. 'I've only met your past self once.'

'Which once?'

Natasha looked away towards the wreckage again. 'Boe died.' She walked off a little to look at the debris. Not wanting to see the sadness in the Doctor's eyes.

After a moment Natasha saw Doctor Song talking as she approached where Natasha was. 'You lot in orbit yet? Yeah, I saw it land. I'm at the crash site. Try and home in on my signal.' Doctor Song looked at her communicator before turning to shout at the Doctor. 'Doctor, can you sonic me? I need to boost the signal so we can use it as a beacon.'

Natasha laughed when the Doctor scowled as he waved his sonic at Doctor Song. 'I think he's less than impressed at being your taxi Doctor Song.'

'Call me River. And I know, but it's so funny doing things like that.' River grinned at her. 'You're no better.'

Natasha smiled. 'I take it we see a lot of each other then? If you know so much about me.' She said this with a slight challenge to her voice. Natasha knew there was every chance River knew her, time travel and all, but she was curious as to how well.

River smirked as she typed on her communicator. 'Let's put it this way, we're best friends and we run rings around the Doctor…sometimes literally.' She looked up as the Doctor came over and pulled out an unusual diary that looked like the TARDIS. 'We have a minute. Shall we?' River flipped a couple of pages. 'Where are we up to? Have we done the Bone Meadows?'

'What's the book?' Amy asked as she tried to look closer.

'Stay away from it.' The Doctor said holding Amy back. 'You get away too Natasha.'

River laughed. 'She doesn't have to. Nat has seen inside this plenty of times, she just looks at the pictures.'

Natasha realised what it was. 'Oh, it's a diary of what you've done. You're trying to see where we are compared to you.'

The Doctor gave Amy more details. 'It's River's past, my…future. Time travel. We keep meeting in the wrong order.'

'Not just you and me Doctor, Nat as well.'

Before Natasha could ask what she meant four tornadoes started nearby out of which four soldiers stepped.

One of them walked over to River. 'You promised me an army, Doctor Song.'

'No, I promised you the equivalent of an army. This is the Doctor.' River gestured to the Doctor who gave a goofy salute.

The soldier held his hand out to the Doctor. 'Father Octavian, Sir. Bishop, second class. Twenty clerics at my command. The troops are already in the drop ship and landing shortly. Doctor Song was helping us with a covert investigation. Has Doctor Song explained what we're dealing with?'

'Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?' River said looking at the Doctor with a smile.

Natasha suddenly got a vision in her head. In it the Doctor was stood in front of screen watching a short clip of a statue. An angel statue. He didn't look pleased.

When the image faded Natasha noticed that the Doctor actually looked…scared.

* * *

As night fell Natasha stood looking at the cliff face. Every so often she would walk a few steps and then put her hands on the rock. Natasha could feel…_something_ but she didn't know what.

Natasha realised two of the clerics were staring at her. She turned and glared at them. 'If you don't quit staring at me I'm gonna come over there and – '

'Nat, breathe.' River suddenly appeared beside her and took her arm. Natasha clenched her teeth but took a deep breath. River smiled at the clerics. 'I suggest you stop staring before she gets hold of a gun.'

The two men quickly turned and walked off.

Natasha rolled her eyes at River. 'I wouldn't have actually done anything…well maybe.'

'You have quite a temper on you Nat,' River said as she put her hair in a ponytail. 'I wasn't going to take the risk.'

Natasha looked over River's new outfit of army gear. 'I've gotta say I prefer this footwear to the heels.'

'I prefer the heels, but when you're with the Doctor a flat shoe is usually better.'

Turning back to the cliff Natasha put her hands on the wall again. 'This cliff is creeping me out River, and I don't know why.'

River looked up at the cliff. 'You'll figure it out, you always do.'

Natasha looked at her in surprise. 'People usually say that kind of thing about the Doctor.'

River just smiled and led her back towards the makeshift camp. 'I say it about both of you. Come on I'll show you something since he's being all grumpy.'

Natasha looked over to where the Doctor was stood with Amy and Father Octavian. 'He gets like that when he's worried.'

River led her into the pod that had been dropped on the beach. 'Here let me load this up. It's a short video of the Angel.' She slotted and removable drive into a screen and Natasha recognised the video that appeared. 'I'll just get the others.' River went to the door and yelled for the Doctor and Father Octavian before turning back to Natasha. 'What do you think?'

Natasha looked at the Angel that was stood with its hands over its eyes. 'Well from what you told me while we were waiting for them soldiers to set up…it is the creepiest thing I've ever seen.'

The Doctor, Amy and Father Octavian walked into the pod. The Doctor immediately went to stand in front of the screen, just like Natasha had seen.

'What do you think?' River asked the Doctor. 'It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's only four seconds. I've put it on loop.'

'Yeah, it's an Angel. Hands covering its face.' The Doctor bent in close to the screen.

'You've encountered the Angels before.' Father Octavian said from near the door.

'Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving.'

Natasha remembered something from her timeline. 'Was that the Sally Sparrow thing?'

The Doctor looked surprised. 'Yeah, how did you know?'

'I've got it on my timeline.'

Amy was frowning at the video. 'But it's just a statue.'

River corrected her. 'It's a statue when you see it.'

'Where did it come from?' The Doctor asked River.

'Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since. Dormant all that time.'

'There's a difference between dormant and patient.'

'What's that mean, it's a statue when you see it?' Amy asked River.

Natasha just shuddered. 'They _move_ Amy, moving statues.'

River rolled her eyes. 'The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen. So legend has it.'

The Doctor shook his head and pulled on a strap hanging from the ceiling. 'No, it's not legend, it's a quantum lock.' The strap suddenly gave way in the Doctor's hand. He fiddled with it for a moment before throwing it away and continuing. 'In the sight of any living creature the Angels literally cease to exist. They're just stone. The ultimate defence mechanism.'

'What, being a stone?' Amy asked him doubtfully.

The Doctor went back to watching the Angel closely. 'Being a stone until you turn your back.'

He suddenly turned and left the pod obviously expecting them to follow him…which they did.

'The hyperdrive would've split on impact. That whole ship's going to be flooded with drive burn radiation, cracked electrons, gravity storms. Deadly to almost any living thing.' He kept looking up and down the cliff face as he talked.

River, Natasha and Octavian had walked partway down the makeshift path. Amy was stood at the doorway of the pod.

'Deadly to an Angel?' Father Octavian asked as the Doctor walked ahead of them.

The Doctor rubbed his hands together. 'Dinner to an Angel. The longer we leave it there, the stronger it will grow. Who built that temple? Are they still around?'

River quickly tapped away on her small computer. 'The Aplans. Indigenous life form. They died out four hundred years ago.'

'Two hundred years later, the planet was terra formed.' Octavian said. 'Currently there are six billion human colonists.'

'Whoo! You lot, you're everywhere. You're like rabbits. I'll never get done saving you.'

Natasha laughed. 'You'd be bored if you weren't saving us Doctor.' The Doctor just grinned at her.

Octavian took a couple of steps towards the Doctor. 'Sir, if there is a clear and present danger to the local population…'

'Oh, there is. Bad as it gets. Bishop, lock and load.'

Father Octavian immediately started towards his clerics, 'Verger, how are we doing with those explosives? Doctor Song, with me.'

'Two minutes. Sweetie, I need you, you too Nat.'

Natasha walked with River towards a couple of crates where she had put her bag. When the Doctor joined them River handed him an old book. 'I found this. Definitive work on the Angels. Well, the only one. Written by a madman. It's barely readable, but I've marked a few passages.'

The Doctor rapidly flipped through the pages. 'Not bad. Bit slow in the middle. Didn't you hate his girlfriend? No. No, hang on. Wait, wait, wait, wait, wait.' As the Doctor sniffed the book Natasha rolled her eyes.

'You better not lick it Doctor, you'll damage it.'

Amy appeared at the door of the pod. 'Doctor Song? Did you have more than one clip of the Angel?'

River glanced at her. 'No, just the four seconds.'

The Doctor was now flipping the book near his ear. 'This book is wrong. What's wrong with this book? It's wrong.'

River was smiling at the Doctor. 'It's so strange when you go all baby face. How early is this for you?'

The Doctor didn't look up from examining the book. 'Very early.'

'So you don't know who I am yet?' Apparently River found this very amusing.

'How do you know who I am? I don't always look the same.' He was now reading the book upside down.

River gestured with her TARDIS diary. 'You never show up in the right order. I needed the spotter's guide for your faces. So one day Natasha sat down and drew pictures of them all for me.'

Natasha looked at her. 'I did?' River just opened the diary to a couple of pages that had nothing but faces and some numbers on. 'Hey, that is my work…but I don't know most of them.'

The Doctor paused briefly and then jiggled the book again. 'Pictures. Why aren't there pictures?'

Natasha suddenly started to get a push of fear in her mind, the Doctor and River didn't notice her clutching her head and kept talking.

'This whole book, it's a warning about the Weeping Angels, so why no pictures? Why not show us what to look out for?'

'There was a bit about images. What was that?'

'Yes. Hang on…'that which holds the image of an angel becomes itself an angel.'

'What does that mean? An image of an Angel becomes itself an Angel.'

Natasha suddenly got a picture in her mind of Amy in the pod with a hologram of the Angel. 'Amy!' She turned and ran to the pod but the door was shut. She banged on it. 'Amy!' The Doctor and River were right beside her.

'Amy are you all right? What's happening?'

'_Doctor? Doctor, it's coming out of the television.'_

The Doctor started sonicing the access keypad. 'Don't take your eyes off it. Keep looking. It can't move if you're looking.'

River looked at the Doctor as he took a panel off the side of the pod. 'What's wrong?'

'Deadlocked.'

'There is no deadlock.'

Natasha kicked the door in frustration. 'The Angel, it must have created it.'

'Don't blink, Amy. Don't even blink.' The Doctor was frantically pulling wires out.

Natasha looked back at the door and put her hand on it, trying to will a picture into her head that could help.

'What are you doing?' River asked the Doctor.

'Cutting the power. It's using the screen, I'm turning the screen off. No good, it's deadlocked the whole system.'

'_Help me!'_ Amy shouted through the door.

The Doctor came back beside Natasha and talked to Amy. 'Can you turn it off? The screen. Can you turn it off?'

'_I tried.'_

Natasha finally got a picture in her head. 'Amy! The remote! Can you reach the remote River had?'

The Doctor almost smiled. 'Yes, that might work. But each time the Angel moves, it'll move faster. Don't even blink.'

As the Doctor moved away River started trying to cut through the door with her pistol torch, but because of how thick the door was she wasn't making much progress.

'_I'm not blinking.' _Amy yelled at them._ 'Have you ever tried not blinking? The screen just keeps switching back on.'_

The Doctor was messing with the wires again. 'Yeah, it's the Angel.'

Natasha looked at him. 'But it's just a recording isn't it.'

'And the things you see are only pictures? No, anything that takes the image of an Angel is an Angel. What are you doing?' He looked at River.

'I'm trying to cut through. It's not even warm.'

'There is no way in. It's not physically possible.' The Doctor was starting to get angry again.

'_Doctor, what's it going to do to me?'_ Amy asked him loudly.

'Just keep looking at it. Don't stop looking.'

'Doctor just tell her!' Natasha said not looking away from the door.

'Amy, not the eyes. Look at the Angel but don't look at the eyes.'

'_Why?'_

The Doctor grabbed the book and sat next to the door to read.

'What is it?' River asked finally giving up on cutting through.

The Doctor read aloud from the book. 'The eyes are not the windows of the soul. They are the doors. Beware what may enter there.'

'_Doctor, what did you say?'_

'Don't look at the eyes!'

'_No, about images. What did you say about images?'_

Natasha had a brainwave. 'Amy the blip! The snowy bit when it loops!'

'_I've got it hold on…'_ Natasha thought she heard Amy count quietly.

Suddenly the door unlocked and the three of them burst in just as the screen went blank.

'I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an Angel any more. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good.'

Natasha hugged Amy. 'I'm so glad we're on the same wavelength.'

The Doctor grinned at them both as he started sonicing things.

'That was amazing.' River said looking at Amy.

'River, hug Amy.' The Doctor said happily.

Amy looked over at him. 'Why?'

'Because I'm busy.'

'I'm fine.' Amy's tone of voice however said she was still a bit stressed out.

'You're brilliant.' River said as she gave Amy a quick hug. 'You too Nat.'

Natasha just shrugged and decided to go see what the clerics were up to. She had barely got ten feet from the pod though when there was a boom and part of the cliff face exploded.

Father Octavian shouted to them from his position. 'Doctor? We're through.'

Natasha started towards the gaping hole, as she was walking past some supplies though she got a pull and stopped. Looking through one of the bags Natasha found a load of crackable glow sticks. Shrugging at her own weirdness Natasha tucked a bundle of them into the waistband of her jeans and dropped her waistcoat over them.

* * *

'Just tell me when I'm near the bottom.' Natasha clung to the wobbly ladder, closed her eyes and slowly climbed down. She heard River chuckle below her. 'Shut it River.'

'Sorry sweetie, I just find it hilarious that after everything we've done you're scared of heights.'

'It's not heights I'm scared of. It's falling from them, _that_ is perfectly reasonable.'

'If you say so. Two more and then you're on the floor.'

Natasha went down two more rungs and carefully felt for the floor. As soon as she had solid rock beneath her feet Natasha opened her eyes and looked around. 'Oh wow!' The little that she could see of the architecture was very nice looking if worn down.

Amy seemed impressed as well. 'Where are we? What is this?'

'It's an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead.'

Natasha shuddered and went to stand next to the Doctor. 'Slightly less wow.'

'And if you happen to be a creature of living stone…' The Doctor kicked a ball he was holding and it flew into the air lighting up a very large space…filled with statues, 'the perfect hiding place.'

Father Octavian looked around the area they were stood in. 'I guess this makes it a bit trickier.'

The Doctor laughed a little. 'A bit, yeah.'

'A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues. A lot harder than I'd prayed for.'

River was looking upward. 'A needle in a haystack.'

The Doctor frowned comically. 'A needle that looks like hay. A hay-like needle of death. A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues.'

Natasha just lifted an eyebrow at the Doctor. 'Seriously? Haystack of statues?'

Father Octavian sighed and addressed the clerics. 'Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection.' He turned to look at the Doctor. 'One question. How do we fight it?'

'We find it, and hope.' The Doctor started walking with Amy and Natasha followed him. Keeping a tight hold of the torches they had been given.

* * *

As they walked up the terraces, checking statues as they went, Amy fell slightly behind Natasha and the Doctor.

Natasha was looking over the nearest statue while the Doctor fiddled with a computer. She had the impression he didn't know how to work it. Natasha heard Amy and River start talking but kept checking statues.

'Ow!' River had given Amy an injection.

'There, you see. I lied. It's a viro-stabiliser. Stabilises your metabolism against radiation, drive burn, anything. You're going to need it when we get up to that ship.'

'So what are they like? In the future, I mean. Because you know them in the future, don't you?'

Natasha saw a slight change in the Doctor's expression and knew he was listening too.

'Natasha is…the kindest person I know despite everything. And the Doctor? Well, the Doctor's the Doctor.'

'Oh. Well, that's very helpful. Mind if I write that down?' Amy said sarcastically.

'Yes, we are.'

'Sorry, what?' The Doctor looked up innocently.

'Talking about you two.' River and Amy were watching them.

'I wasn't listening. I'm busy.' He went back to the computer.

Natasha laughed. 'If you don't want to be overheard talk quieter.'

River smirked. 'Uh huh. Doctor it goes the other way up.'

Natasha laughed again when he turned it making him give her a mock glare and prod her. 'Hey! It's not my fault you can't act.'

' – thing for each other.'

Natasha turned when she heard Amy talking again. 'What was that?'

Both Amy and River smiled at her. 'Nothing.'

Suddenly there was gunfire and the four of them ran back to join the clerics. One of the younger clerics appeared to have shot at a statue.

The cleric shifted uneasily. 'Sorry, sorry. I thought…I thought it looked at me.'

Father Octavian got up in his face. 'We know what the Angel looks like. Is that the Angel?'

'No, sir.'

'No, sir, it is not. According to the Doctor, we are facing an enemy of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of decor.'

Natasha went to look at the statue the uneasy feeling she'd had since landing was getting worse.

The Doctor went to talk to the cleric. 'What's your name?'

'Bob, sir.'

'Ah, that's a great name. I love Bob.'

Father Octavian sounded a bit exasperated. 'It's a Sacred Name. We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church.'

The Doctor smiled. 'Sacred Bob. More like Scared Bob now, eh?'

Natasha saw Bob glance at the Bishop before answering. 'Yes, sir.'

When she saw Father Octavian look mildly annoyed Natasha left the statue she'd been looking to go stand near in front of him. 'You want to know something Father Octavian? I'm more than scared. I'm terrified. I want nothing more than to run in the opposite direction as fast as I can.' Natasha saw River look at her intently. 'I've been feeling it since we landed. Something isn't right and Bob has good reason to be scared.'

The Bishop looked more annoyed now. 'You'll forgive me if I don't do things based on your _feelings_ Ma'am.'

River came over to them. 'Natasha has powerful psychic and empathic abilities. If she says there's reason to be scared – there is.'

Father Octavian nodded and looked at Bob again. 'We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes. You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach.'

As they made to leave Natasha went over to Bob. 'You can be scared and still have hope Bob, hope is what keeps us going. I have hope that the Doctor will get us all out of here safely.'

Bob smiled nervously. 'Yes Ma'am.'

Natasha patted him on the shoulder and headed of into the maze with the others.

* * *

The further into the maze they walked they worse Natasha's headache got. River had taken advantage of Natasha's distraction and stabbed her with a viro-stabiliser.

Rubbing her temples Natasha tried to focus on what the others were talking about.

'Isn't there a chance this lot's just going to collapse? There's a whole ship up there.'

'Incredible builders, the Aplans.'

'Had dinner with their Chief Architect once. Two heads are better than one.'

'What, you mean you helped him?'

'No, I mean he had two heads. That book, the very end, what did it say?'

'Hang on.'

'Read it to me.'

'What if we had ideas that could think for themselves? What if one day our dreams no longer needed us? When these things occur and are held to be true, the time will be upon us. The time of Angels.'

As they entered another large area Natasha felt a large wave of…something push in her head it made her fall to one knee, not realising she was mumbling as she did. 'Too many, so many, and not enough.'

Natasha saw River kneel in front of her. 'What are you feeling Natasha? What are you seeing?'

Natasha suddenly saw a picture of the Doctor with a different face talking to a two headed man. Then immediately after she saw pictures of all the statues they had passed. Natasha looked around and gasped. 'Doctor?'

He was stood next to her. 'Are you okay?'

She ignored that. 'Aplans have two heads yeah?' He nodded. 'So why don't the statues?'

The Doctor and everyone else suddenly looked around and went 'oh'.

Natasha gave a humourless laugh. 'That's what I've been feeling, they've been waking up.'

Father Octavian looked at her. 'Are you sure Ma'am?' Natasha knew he wasn't questioning her so much as he didn't want her to be right, and she couldn't really blame him for that.

The Doctor pointed his torch at a corner without statues. 'Okay everyone over there quickly. River help Natasha.'

River helped Natasha to her feet and led her to the right area.

The Doctor stood at the front of the group and faced the room. 'Okay, I want you all to switch off your torches.'

'Sir?'

'Just do it. Okay. I'm going to turn off this one too, just for a moment.'

River turned hers off and then looked at the Doctor. 'Are you sure about this?'

'No.' He flipped it off and then on again almost instantly. In that split second all the statues in the room had turned towards them.

Amy gasped. 'Oh, my God. They've moved.'

The Doctor ran down a passage with Amy and Natasha heard him call back. 'They're Angels. All of them.'

'But they can't be.' River said desperately as she went to watch the Angels the Doctor and Amy passed.

'Clerics, keep watching them.' The Doctor went further down the passage. 'Every statue in this Maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel. They're coming after us.'

'But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear.' River, Amy and the Doctor came back to the larger room.

'Could they have been here already?' Amy said making to keep looking around

'The Aplans. What happened? How did they die out?' The Doctor asked as he moved his torch around.

'No one knows.' River said watching the statues.

Natasha giggled when a bad joke popped in her head. 'We know. They were stoned.' River, Amy, Octavian and the Doctor all looked at her. 'What? Oh come on that was just too easy and forgive me for trying to find a way to ignore my migraine.'

The Doctor recovered first. 'You seem to be more in control of yourself.'

Natasha nodded. 'I think the surge of emotion was when they realised I was about to draw your attention to them. It's more manageable now.' Or rather it was easier to ignore.

'You said they were fast.' Amy said accusingly. 'They should have had us by now.'

'Look at them. They're dying, losing their form.' The Doctor leaned down to look closer at the nearest Angel. 'They must have been down here for centuries, starving.'

Natasha went over and touched the worn edge of what should be the Angel's hair. 'They've been wearing down, just like normal statues.'

'And their image is their power.' The Doctor suddenly stood up straight. 'Power. Power!'

'Doctor?' Amy said as he paced up and down.

'Don't you see? All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up.

'We need to get out of here fast.' River said looking around towards the exit.

Octavian activated his communicator. 'Bob, Angelo, Christian, come in, please. Any of you, come in.'

'_It's Bob, sir. Sorry, sir.'_

Natasha suddenly got a pull towards the Bishop. She went over and took his communicator from him.

'What do you think – '

'Ssh!' Natasha held her hand up to him before talking into the communicator. 'Hi there. This is Natasha remember me?'

'_Yes Ma'am I do.'_

'Splendid.' Octavian tried to take the communicator from her so she turned away from him. 'Just one question for you…are Angelo, Christian and Bob _all_ dead?' Natasha really hoped the push in her head was wrong. She saw everyone stare at her in shock as they waited for a reply.

'_Yes Ma'am, the Angel killed them all.'_

Natasha closed her eyes briefly and tried to keep the anger out of her voice. 'So you are an Angel, yes? How are you talking to us?'

'_The Angel has no voice Ma'am. It stripped my cerebral cortex from my body and re-animated a version of my consciousness to communicate with you. Sorry if this confused you.'_

'Uh huh. So you're on your way up to us are you?'

'_Yes Ma'am, the Angel is coming. No way out.'_

Father Octavian waved at the exit. 'Then we get out through the wreckage. Go! Go, go, go. All of you run.'

Amy, River and the clerics all ran ahead. Amy stopped next to the Doctor. 'Doctor.'

He just waved her ahead. 'We'll catch up. Just go. Go, go, go.'

Natasha looked at Father Octavian. 'I'm sorry we could never have got to them.'

Octavian frowned. 'I know that, Ma'am, but that will be little comfort to their families when you've all flown away in your blue box.'

She looked away. 'It will be no comfort. I'm more than aware of that.'

As Father Octavian walked ahead the Doctor took the communicator. 'Angel Bob, the Doctor here. Which Angel am I talking to? The one from the ship?'

'_Yes, sir. The other Angels are still restoring.'_

'Ah, so the Angel is not in the wreckage. Thank you.' The Doctor pulled Natasha along. In the next passage Amy was stood still. 'Don't wait for me. Go, run.'

'I can't. No, really, I can't.'

Natasha stopped but the Doctor waved her on. 'You go.' She quickly caught up to River and the others.

River looked at her. 'Where are Amy and the Doctor?'

'Something's up with Amy, he's fixing it.'

'Are you okay?'

Natasha shrugged and looked at Father Octavian. He and his men were watching the various entrances to the room. 'I don't see how this will ever be a gift River.'

'Stop it. This isn't your fault.'

'Yeah right. Now Father Octavian has to go and tell three families the worst possible news.'

Father Octavian looked at her. 'You sound as if you have experience with that.'

'Not from your side, but yes.' Natasha looked at the wreckage above as River put a hand on her arm.

'You bit me!'

Natasha looked at River and they both laughed quietly wondering why the Doctor had done that. You never could tell with the Doctor, after all he licked things to see how old they were.

One of the clerics came back down the corridor he'd been checking. 'The statues are advancing along all corridors. And, sir, my torch keeps flickering.'

'They all do.' Octavian said with a wave of his torch.

River gestured upwards. 'So does the gravity globe.'

The Doctor and Amy joined them in the middle of the room. 'Yeah, it's the Angels. They're coming. And they're draining the power for themselves.'

Octavian looked around. 'Which means we won't be able to see them.'

The Doctor corrected him. 'Which means we can't stay here.'

'Two more incoming.'

'Any suggestions?' River said looking as nervous as Natasha felt.

Octavian looked around again. 'The statues are advancing on all sides. We don't have the climbing equipment to reach the Byzantium.'

River looked at the Doctor. 'There's no way up, no way back, no way out. No pressure, but this is usually when you have a _really_ good idea.'

'There's always a way out.' The Doctor said quietly before repeating it with a bit more excitement. 'There's always a way out.' He looked around the room as though working something out.

'_Doctor? Can I speak to the Doctor, please?'_

'Hello, Angels. What's your problem?' The Doctor used the same pleasant tone Natasha had.

'_Your power will not last much longer, and the Angels will be with you shortly. Sorry, sir.'_

'Why are you telling me this?'

'_There's something the Angels are very keen you should know before the end.'_

'Which is?'

'_She told me to have hope in you.'_

'I'm sorry?' The Doctor looked really confused. 'Who did?'

'_She told me to have hope. That you would get us all out of here. The Angels wanted you both to know that my hope did not save me and that I died afraid, in pain and alone. She made me have hope and it was all for nothing.'_

Natasha scowled made to grab the communicator but River just held her back.

Amy whispered to River. 'What are they doing?'

'They're trying to make them angry.'

'_I'm sorry, sir, ma'am. The Angels were very keen for you to know that.'_

The Doctor glanced at Natasha and she could see that he was angry as well. 'Well then, the Angels have made their second mistake because I'm not going to let that pass. I'm sorry you're dead, Bob, but I swear to whatever is left of you, they will be sorrier.'

'_But you're trapped, sir, and about to die.'_

'Yeah. I'm trapped. And you know what? Speaking of traps, this trap has got a great big mistake in it. A great big, whopping mistake.'

'_What mistake, sir?'_

The Doctor ignored Angel Bob's question and turned to Amy. 'Trust me?'

'Yeah.'

He looked at River. 'Trust me?'

'Always.'

He looked at Natasha who spoke first. 'Silly question.'

He grinned and turned to the clerics. 'You lot, trust me?'

One of the clerics pointed down a corridor. 'Sir, two more incoming.'

Octavian spoke for them all. 'We have faith, sir.'

'Then give me your gun.' Octavian handed the gun over. 'I'm about to do something incredibly stupid and dangerous. When I do, jump!'

Natasha got a picture in her head of the Doctor shooting upwards and them falling onto the ship above them. She gaped at the Doctor. 'I can't decide if your plan is brilliant or awful.'

'I'm aiming for the first option really.' He gave her a goofy smile.

Octavian interrupted them. 'Doctor where are we jumping?'

'Just jump, high as you can. Come on, leap of faith, Bishop. On my signal.'

'What signal?'

'You won't miss it.'

'_Sorry, can I ask again? You mentioned a mistake we made.'_

The Doctor aimed the gun upwards. 'Oh, big mistake. Huge. Didn't anyone ever tell you there's one thing you never put in a trap? If you're smart, if you value your continued existence, if you have _any_ plans about seeing tomorrow, there is one thing you never, _ever_ put in a trap.'

'_And what would that be, sir?'_

'Me.'

As soon as the Doctor fired and took out the gravity globe Natasha jumped as high as she could. For a few moments had the oddest sensation of floating and then her head spun as gravity seemed to shift direction. Realising she was about to crash into the hull of the Byzantium head first Natasha quickly twisted until her feet were pointed in the new direction of 'down'.

Then suddenly she had landed. As some small lights turned on Natasha staggered slightly but stayed on her feet, she was only one who did. Natasha sniggered and helped River to her feet. 'I can't believe I'm the only one not on my ass.'

The Doctor smiled and started sonicing and talking. 'Up. Look up.'

'What happened?' Amy asked as River helped her up.

'We jumped.'

'Jumped where?'

Natasha pointed up. 'That is where we were, we've jumped onto the hull of the ship.'

The Doctor pushed them slightly. 'Move your feet.'

Stepping aside Amy kept looking up. 'Doctor, what am I looking at? Explain.'

'Oh, come on, Amy, think. The ship crashed with the power still on, yeah? So what else is still on? The artificial gravity. One good jump, and up we fell. Shot out the grav globe to give us an updraft, and here we are.'

'Doctor, the statues.' Father Octavian said aiming his gun upward. 'They look more like Angels now.'

'They're feeding on the radiation from the wreckage, draining all the power from the ship, restoring themselves. Within an hour, they'll be an army.'

Suddenly the lights started flickering and popping out. The Doctor opened a hatch and pointed up. 'They're taking out the lights. Look at them. Look at the Angels. Into the ship, now. Quickly, all of you.'

'How?' Amy asked.

As they watched him the Doctor dropped into the tube…and ended up standing on what had appeared to be the side of it. 'It's just a corridor. The gravity orientates to the floor. Now, in here, all of you. Don't take your eyes off the Angels. Move, move, move.'

Natasha dropped into the tube and ended up lying on her back. As she got up she grinned at Amy. 'Come on Amy. It makes your head spin a bit but other than that it's fine.'

Once everyone was in the tube Father Octavian addressed the Doctor again. 'The Angels. Presumably they can jump up too?'

The hatch they came in closed and the Doctor looked up. 'They're here, now. In the dark, we're finished.' Behind them another bulkhead started to shut. 'Run!'

When none of them managed to get to the door in time Octavian sighed. 'This whole place is a death trap.'

Natasha saw the Doctor's eyes go a little wide. 'No, it's a time bomb. Well, it's a death trap and a time bomb. And now it's a dead end. Nobody panic.' He looked around. 'Oh, just me then. What's through here?'

'Secondary flight deck.' River said not looking away from the outer hatch. Which a lot of banging was coming from.

'Okay. So we've basically run up the inside of a chimney, yeah?' Amy was also keeping an eye on the hatch. 'So what if the gravity fails?'

'I've thought about that.'

'And?'

The Doctor looked at Amy. 'And we'll all plunge to our deaths. See? I've thought about it.' He turned to look at the bulkhead. 'The security protocols are still live. There's no way to override them. It's impossible.'

Natasha and River spoke at the same time. 'How impossible?'

'Two minutes.'

Suddenly the light dimmed and the outer hatch had opened. 'The hull is breached and the power's failing.' Octavian said as the clerics all took position facing the door.

Natasha felt her breath hitch as the lights dimmed and then flickered off for a second. There was now an arm at the opening.

'Sir, incoming.' A cleric said unnecessarily.

'Doctor? Lights.' Amy said frantically as the lights dimmed and flickered off and on again.

There was now an Angel peering inside. The lights flickered again and when they came back on there were four Angels inside the passage with the hatch shut behind them.

Natasha rubbed her temples. She could feel almost a sense of…pleasure from the Angels. They were pleased that they had the group trapped. 'Oh they are doing my nut in.'

'Clerics, keep watching them.' Octavian said in a low tone.

'And don't look at their eyes. Anywhere else. Not the eyes.' The Doctor smiled a little. 'I've isolated the lighting grid. They can't drain the power now.'

'Good work, Doctor.' The Bishop sounded thoroughly relieved.

'Yes. Good, good, good. Good in many ways. Good you like it so far.'

Natasha shook her head. 'Please don't tell me there's only one way to open the door.'

'Fine I won't tell you that. Amy there's only one way to open this door.' Natasha looked away from the gloating Angels to prod his arm. 'I'll need to route all the power in this section through the door control.'

Octavian nodded. 'Good. Fine. Do it.'

The Doctor walked forward to look at the Angels. 'Including the lights. All of them. I'll need to turn out the lights.'

'How long for?'

'Fraction of a second. Maybe longer. Maybe quite a bit longer.'

'Maybe?'

Natasha suddenly remembered what she had picked up earlier. 'Wait! I knew I picked these up for a reason.' She pulled the bundle of glow sticks from her jeans and held them out. 'Glow sticks!'

The Doctor spun around to look at her with a grin. 'Oh Natasha! You are brilliant!'

She just shrugged. 'It's not me Doctor, I've kinda got a cheat sheet in a way.'

River looked away from the wires she'd been messing with. 'Can the Angels drain the power from a chemical reaction?'

The Doctor frowned and fiddled with a glow stick. 'Maybe, possibly. I don't know.'

Natasha looked at him. 'Maybe we should work as though they can. Just to be safe.'

'Right, Natasha you take care of the sticks. River the wires. Amy I'll need your help. Bishop you and your men can cover the Angels.'

Father Octavian looked at River. 'Doctor Song, I've lost good Clerics today. You trust this man?'

'I absolutely trust him.'

'He's not some kind of madman, then?'

River paused briefly. 'I absolutely trust him.'

The Doctor went back to sonicing and Natasha went to River's side. 'There's one thing you should know about the Doctor, Father Octavian. He is most definitely a madman, but that doesn't mean he isn't a genius and a good man.'

Octavian looked at River for a moment longer before joining his men. 'Okay, Doctor. We've got your back.'

'Bless you. Bishop.'

Octavian went into command mode. 'Combat distance, ten feet. Miss Francis as soon as the Doctor is ready start cracking the glow sticks and dropping them in front of us. Men, if the sticks fade use continuous fire until Miss Francis cracks another. Full spread over the hostiles. Do not stop firing while the lights are out. Shot gun protocol. We don't have bullets to waste.'

'Amy, when the lights go down, the wheel should release.' The Doctor put Amy in front of the wheel. 'Spin it clockwise four turns.'

'Ten.'

'No, four. Four turns.'

'Yeah, four. I heard you.' Amy stood ready at the wheel.

'Ready!' The Doctor put his sonic against the control unit.

'On my command, then. God be with us all. Miss Francis now. Men, ready yourselves.' Natasha cracked a stick, shook it and dropped it to the floor. 'Now Doctor.'

The Doctor rerouted the power and the only light was from the dim glow stick. As it started to fade Natasha quickly did another one and dropped it.

'Doctor, it's opening.' Amy said excitedly. 'It's working.'

Another source of dim light appeared behind them and the Doctor shouted. 'Fall back!

Amy, Natasha and River went through first, followed by the clerics and then the Doctor. They all ran down a short corridor and the Doctor used a sonic on another bulkhead. It required him to hold it open though so yet again everyone else went first and the Doctor slipped in through the gap as it closed.

* * *

As soon as she got in the room though something set Natasha on edge. She barely paid attention as the clerics magnetised the doors and slowed the Angels progress. Pacing up and down Natasha tried to figure out what was going on in her head, what felt so wrong.

'Doctor, how long have we got?'

'Five minutes, max.'

'Nine.'

As Amy said that Natasha felt her agitation increase. She also felt a ripple of amusement from the Angels.

'Five.' The Doctor said correcting Amy again.

'Five. Right. Yeah. '

The Doctor glanced at her as he fiddled with the computers. 'Why'd you say nine?'

'I didn't.'

'We need another way out of here.' River said as she looked at the computers with the Doctor.

Natasha nodded eagerly as she paced. 'Yes we do, we need _out_ of here. Away, far, far away.'

Octavian looked at her. 'Keep calm Ma'am we have some time.'

'Nat, what's wrong?' River came over to her.

'We're missing something.'

'Ah ha! Of course.' The Doctor walked over to the far wall. 'What do ships need when they go for years between planets?'

River looked at him in sudden understanding. 'Of course.'

'Of course what? What do they need?' Amy said, clearly she was as lost as Natasha.

'Can we get in there?' Father Octavian asked walking over to the Doctor.

The Doctor went to look at the fourth wall of the room. 'Well, it's a sealed unit, but they must have installed it somehow. This whole wall should slide up. There's clamps. Release the clamps.'

Natasha scowled at him. '21st century humans in the room – what do they need?'

River smiled at her and Amy. 'They need to breathe.'

Natasha rubbed her temples and watched as the Doctor soniced some clamps and the whole wall slid up.

'But that's. That's a…' Amy said looking at the revealed forest.

'It's an oxygen factory.' River explained.

'It's a forest.'

Trying to ignore her headache Natasha went to the nearest tree and touched it. 'But plants need sunlight…what do they live on?'

The Doctor didn't answer straight away instead he looked at Octavian. 'Is there another exit? Scan the architecture, we don't have time to get lost in there.'

'On it. Stay where you are until I've checked the Rad levels.' Octavian disappeared into the forest.'

Amy came over to Natasha and touched the tree as well. 'But trees, on a space ship?'

'Oh, more than trees. Way better than trees. You're going to love this.' The Doctor came over to them and pulled a piece of bark aside to reveal fibre optic cables. 'Treeborgs. Trees plus technology. Branches become cables become sensors on the hull. A forest sucking in starlight, breathing out air. It even rains. There's a whole mini-climate. This vault is an ecopod running right through the heart of the ship. A forest in a bottle on a space ship in a maze.' He turned to look at them. 'Have I impressed you yet, Amy Pond, Natasha Francis?'

Amy laughed a little and nodded. 'Seven.'

Natasha turned to look at Amy as she counted again.

The Doctor came closer to Amy and looked at her. 'Seven?'

'Sorry, what?' Amy said.

'You said seven.'

'No. I didn't.'

River and Natasha spoke at the same time. 'Yes you did.'

Father Octavian reappeared nearby. 'Doctor, there's an exit, far end of the ship, into the Primary Flight Deck.'

The Doctor looked back at him for a moment. 'Oh, good. That's where we need to go.'

'Plotting a safe path now.'

'Quick as you like.'

'_Doctor? Excuse me? Hello, Doctor? Angel Bob here, sir. _

The Doctor went and sat down followed by Amy. 'Ah. There you are, Angel Bob. How's life? Sorry, bad subject.'

'_The Angels are wondering what you hope to achieve.'_

As Natasha turned to follow them she caught sight of something on the wall above the door they had come in. A crack with a glowing light coming from it. Natasha looked at it and _knew_ that it was what was setting her on edge. Everything about it just screamed 'wrong'.

'Okay, Bob, enough chat. Here's what I want to know. What have you done to Amy?'

Natasha pulled her gaze from the crack and looked at the Doctor.

'_There is something in her eye.'_

'What's in her eye?'

Natasha zoned out for a moment when a vision came into her mind. It was of her knelt in front of Amy looking into her eyes and something passing between them.

'You're counting down from ten.' The Doctor was looking at Amy seriously. 'You have been for a couple of minutes.'

'Why?'

'I don't know.'

'Well, counting down to what?'

'I don't know.'

'_We shall take her. We shall take all of you. We shall have dominion over all time and space.'_

The Doctor dropped back into the chair as he talked. 'Get a life, Bob. Oops, sorry again. There's power on this ship, but nowhere near that much.'

'_With respect, sir, there's more power on this ship than you yet understand.'_

There was a sudden loud, screeching noise.

'What's that? Dear God, what is it?' River said looking around.

Natasha clutched her head and tried to focus. 'It's the Angels, they're laughing at us.'

'_Miss Francis is right Doctor Song. The Angels are laughing because the Doctor in the TARDIS hasn't noticed.'_

Natasha grabbed the Doctor as he stood and turned him to face the crack in the wall. The crack that was getting bigger as they watched.

The Doctor ran over to stand beneath the crack.

Amy followed him and stared at it in shock. 'That's – that's – that's like the crack from my bedroom wall from when I was a little girl.'

'Yes. Two parts of space and time that should never have touched.'

Octavian took charge again. 'Okay, enough. We're moving out.'

River nodded. 'Agreed. Doctor?'

The Doctor climbed on top of a set of rolling drawers. 'Yeah, fine. Right with you.'

'We're not leaving without you.' River said not moving.

'Oh yes, you are. Bishop?'

Octavian came over to them. 'Miss Francis, Miss Pond, Doctor Song, now!'

Natasha started following the Bishop and River pulled a reluctant Amy along.

A little way in River spoke and caught Natasha's attention.

'Amy? Amy, what's wrong?'

Natasha turned and saw Amy staggering and looking ill. She ran over and took one of Amy's arms. As soon as Natasha touched Amy she got another picture in her head. It was of Amy but there was an image of an Angel superimposed over the top of her.

Looking in Amy's eyes Natasha felt her fear get stronger. 'There's an Angel inside her mind.'

River stared at her in shock. 'What?

'Four.' Amy swayed a little, sat down on a log and then laid down.

'Med scanner, now.'

Natasha knelt in front of Amy and kept looking at her. 'I can help her River.'

'What do you mean?'

She shifted until she was looking directly into Amy's eyes. Instead of her reflection Natasha saw the image of an Angel. 'Amy I need you to keep looking at me okay? Right into my eyes.' Amy nodded slightly.

River grabbed Natasha's arm. 'What are you doing?'

'She's too weak. I can help.' Natasha looked at the Angel in Amy's eyes. 'I know you're sentient, that you can hear me. Why do you want Amy when you can have me?'

'Nat!'

Natasha ignored River. 'I know you've been listening so you know I'm different. Imagine if you took me over instead…you may very well gain my abilities.' River tried to pull her away but Natasha remained firmly where she was. 'Imagine that - knowing the future. All you have to do is leave Amy and enter me instead.'

'Natasha what are you doing?' The Doctor spoke from nearby. 'Stop!'

Natasha suddenly saw the Angel leave Amy's eyes and enter through her. As soon as she felt the malevolent presence inside her mind Natasha staggered and fell to the floor shutting her eyes as she did.

She felt hands grab her. 'Natasha what did you do?' It was the Doctor.

'She was dying Doctor. I had seen this so I knew it would work.'

His hands moved to her head. 'Why did you shut your eyes?'

'It was instinctive, but now that I think about it…if you want starve your lungs what do you do?'

'You stop breathing! Of course!'

'What? I don't understand?' That was Amy. 'What did Natasha do?'

'Amy there was an Angel in your mind when Natasha looked into your eyes she gave the Angel a doorway into _her_ mind.'

'But why did you do that?'

Natasha shrugged and tried to ignore the Angel clamouring in her mind. 'I – I uh, didn't know how else to help you.' She felt someone put an arm around her. 'River I'm fine, quit worrying.'

'Quit worrying? You _invited_ an Angel into your mind!'

'Speaking of which…' The Doctor said sounding very close. 'Amy couldn't feel it at first but can you?'

Natasha nodded and winced as the Angel kind of 'shouted' in her head. 'Yeah, I can feel it. It's sort of like…when you can feel someone behind you. I'm having to concentrate because it keeps trying to push out and make me open my eyes.'

'But she's stopped it right?' Amy asked. 'So why does it matter if she opens her eyes?'

'Because I don't know if her countdown will start at the beginning or continue from where she interrupted it.' The Doctor said calmly. 'So worst case scenario is she has three seconds of seeing before the Angel takes her.'

Father Octavian called out from nearby. 'Doctor, we're too exposed here. We have to move on.'

'We're too exposed everywhere. And Natasha can't move we can't risk her falling and opening her eyes. And anyway, that's not the plan.'

'There's a plan?' River said from beside Natasha.

'I don't know yet. I haven't finished talking. Right! Father, you and your Clerics, you're going to stay here, look after Natasha. If anything happens to her, I'll hold every single one of you personally responsible, twice. River, you, me and Amy we're going to find the Primary Flight Deck which is…a quarter of a mile straight ahead, and from there we're going to stabilise the wreckage, stop the Angels, and cure Natasha.' By the time he finished talking he was back near Natasha.

Natasha reached and took hold of the cloth she felt. 'Doctor, please tell me there is more to that than waiting for you to have another idea.'

'Of course there is, there's a thing.' He said confidently.

Natasha snorted. 'Oh well that makes me feel _so_ much better about being blind in the middle of an Angel infested forest.'

'Oi, respect the thing. Moving out!' He squeezed Natasha's hand. 'I'll be back for you.'

'Doctor, I'm coming with you. My clerics'll look after Miss Francis. These are my best men. They'd lay down their lives in her protection.'

'I don't need you.' The Doctor said a little rudely making Natasha wish she could see to smack him.

'I don't care. Where Doctor Song goes, I go.'

'What? You two engaged or something?'

'Yes, in a manner of speaking. Marco, you're in charge till I get back.'

'Good luck, everyone. Behave. Do not let that girl open her eyes.' The Doctor's voice got a little further away. 'And keep watching the forest. Stop those Angels advancing. Natasha, later. Come along Pond. River, going to need your computer!'

Things went quiet and Natasha sighed wishing she didn't feel quite so scared. Natasha wasn't scared of accidently opening her eyes, the Angel's angry presence in her mind scared her more. She could feel it seething and pushing and it terrified her that she might not be strong enough to hold it back.

Suddenly someone took her hands and made her jump. A second later she got a picture or rather a short 'movie' of the Doctor walking away with River and the others and another Doctor sneaking out of the trees and coming over to her.

'You're the Doctor, but not the one that just walked off.'

'Clever girl.'

'What's going on Doctor? How come you're here?' She scrunched her nose slightly. 'Or rather how are you here _again_.'

'I don't know, but it is all connected to Amy.'

Natasha thought about that for a moment. 'The cracks…if they are two bits of the universe that weren't supposed to touch…what made them touch?'

'You know the rules. Or as you and River like to say – spoilers.'

Natasha laughed but stopped quickly and let her fear fill her voice. 'I'm scared Doctor. The Angel is so strong…what if I can't…what if it wins?'

The Doctor's hands were suddenly on her face, his thumbs stroking gently across her cheeks. His forehead touched to hers and he sighed. 'Oh Natasha Francis, you are so much stronger than you think.'

'Not really,' Natasha said with a shrug. 'I'm just a good actor. I think you need to tell Amelia a story.'

'What makes you say that?'

'My weirdness. Tell her about the man and the box that is old and new, borrowed and blue.'

There was a pause. 'I'll do that. I need to go.' The Doctor pressed a kiss against her forehead and disappeared, leaving Natasha with the sense that he had been saying goodbye.

* * *

A few minutes later Natasha saw the light through her eyelids flicker. 'What's happening? What's wrong with the lights?'

She heard the clerics talking before one of them spoke to her. 'It's the Angels ma'am. They're ripping the treeborgs apart.'

Natasha twisted around as the lights flickered again. 'Which is making the lights go out yeah?'

'Yes ma'am.'

'Angels advancing, sir.'

'Over here again.'

'Weapons primed. Combat distance five feet. Wait for it.' The first cleric that spoke must have been Marco then, since that was who Octavian had left in charge. 'Ma'am please keep your position.'

Suddenly a bright light flooded the area and Natasha felt it flood her mind as well. She knew it was the same light that had come from the crack. It must be getting bigger.

'The ship's not on fire, is it?' Marco said evidently talking about the light.

Another cleric replied to him. 'It can't be. The compressors would have taken care of it. Marco, the Angels have gone. Where'd they go?'

'This side's clear too, sir.'

Natasha got a picture in her head of the Angels moving away, but not from the clerics, from the light. 'It's the light, they're running from it. Whatever you do keep away from the light.'

Marco seemed to move slightly closer to her. 'Phillip, Crispin, need to get a closer look at that.'

Natasha turned to where his voice came from. 'Did you not just hear me?'

'Ma'am if the Angels are running from it perhaps we could – '

Natasha stood up and yelled at him. 'If _they_ are scared of it _we_ should be screaming in terror!'

'Phillip, Crispin go.'

She threw her hands up in frustration. 'Why do I bother?'

After a couple of minutes the two men had not come back and Natasha was just about to suggest contacting them on the communicator when Marco spoke again. This time from right beside her.

'Pedro, if that thing can scare the Angels we need a closer look. Go check it out.'

Natasha grabbed Marco's arm. 'Wait, what about Crispin and Phillip? You should contact them first.'

'Crispin and who? We're the only ones here Ma'am.' Marco asked her in confusion. 'Check it out Pedro.'

Natasha heard Pedro walk off and sighed in frustration. 'I'm telling you the three of us just need to stay _away_ from the light.'

'What are you talking about Ma'am?'

'The light!' Natasha waved her hand in its direction. 'We need to stay away from it.'

'Yes I understood that Ma'am, but what do you mean the _three_ of us? We're the only ones here.'

Natasha felt a shiver go through her. 'We need to move away from the light.'

'We will Ma'am but first I need to get a closer look at that light, whatever it is. Don't worry, I won't get too close.'

She grabbed his arm tighter. '_Please_, you have to listen to me. _Stay away_ from it!'

'Here. Spare communicator. I'll stay in touch the whole time.'

Natasha felt something being pushed into her hands. 'No. Please let's just try to catch up to the Doctor.'

Marco started walking away. 'In a minute Ma'am but I need to be able to tell the Bishop about this light.'

'Please Marco don't!' Natasha cried out but she could no longer hear his steps.

For a moment Natasha gave into her tears and then she lifted the communicator and hit what she hoped was the right button. 'Hello? Is anyone there?'

'_Natasha? Is that you?'_

Natasha laughed in relief. 'Doctor!'

'_Where are you? Are the Clerics with you?'_

'There are no clerics Doctor. They disappeared.' Natasha wiped away her tears. 'This light, the same as the one from the crack. It appeared and they walked into it. I told them to stay away I can _feel_ how wrong it is, but – but they didn't even remember each other.'

'_No, they wouldn't…Natasha I'm sorry, I made a mistake. I should never have left you there.'_

'Spilt milk and all that. Doctor, what do I do now?'

'_You come to us. The Primary Flight Deck, the other end of the forest.'_

Natasha went perfectly still. 'You mean walk through the forest blind? As in the Angel infested forest?'

'_Turn on the spot.'_

Natasha rolled her eyes behind her lids but did so. 'And why am I doing this?'

'_When the communicator makes a sound like my screwdriver, that means you're facing the right way. Follow the sound. You have to start moving now. There's Time Energy Spilling out of that crack, and you have to stay ahead of it.'_

Natasha heard the noise and stopped. 'But what about the Angels?'

'_I'm sorry, I really am, but the Angels can only kill you.'_

'Do – do I want to know what the Time Energy does?'

'_Just keep moving. If it catches up to you…you'll never have been born. It will erase every moment of your existence. You will never have lived at all.'_

'Well we don't want that. Who on earth would keep you in line?' As Natasha started carefully walking she heard the Doctor chuckle over the communicator.

'_Natasha listen to me. I'm sending a bit of software to your communicator. It's a proximity detector. it'll beep if there's something in your way. You just manoeuvre till the beeping stops.'_

Natasha fought to keep her balance as an image came to her. The Angels, running in _her_ direction. 'Oh, they're coming back my way aren't they.'

'_Yes and you're going to have to walk like you can see.'_

Natasha frowned and kept slowly moving. 'You know there's a reason blind people have guide dogs right?'

There was another chuckle but Natasha's slight smile vanished when her communicator beeped.

'Doctor does that beep mean…?'

'_It's a warning. There are Angels round you now, but you can do it. The Angels are scared and running, and right now they're not that interested in you. They'll assume you can see them and their instincts will kick in. All you've got to do is walk like you can see.'_

'Walk like I can see okay.' Natasha felt the Angel in her brain start fighting again and made a noise of pain.

'_Natasha are you okay?'_

'The Angel…in my head. It's fighting again. My head hurts Doctor.'

'_Just keep going. You're almost there.'_

Natasha could now feel the Angels near her and it seemed the one in her head did too. It started pushing and Natasha clutched her head dropping the communicator. 'Doctor I dropped it! I have to open my eyes!'

'_No! Natasha don't!'_

Natasha opened her eyes and backed up to tree trying to keep watching all the Angels. A few of them had been about to grab her and had left no way around them. 'Doctor they're everywhere. Three.' She heard herself count. 'I can't get past them. I refuse to become an Angel Doctor. I'd rather die.'

'_There must be a way past them just _look_!'_

'Two. There isn't!' Natasha shouted at him. 'As soon as I say it, I'm closing my eyes. I – I wish I'd had more time with you Doctor. One.' Natasha closed her eyes and then screamed as she felt arms around her.

'It's okay, I've got you. You're on the flight deck.'

'River?' Natasha lifted her hands and felt River's frizzy hair. 'Oh god!' Natasha burst into tears and clung to River. 'Oh thank god, I thought...'

'I teleported you.' River shifted slightly. 'See? Told you I could get it working.'

'River Song, I could bloody kiss you.' The Doctor said sounding really grateful.

Natasha felt River laugh. 'I'd rather leave that to someone else if you don't mind.'

Another hand touched Natasha's arm. 'Good to see you again.' Amy said with a happy tone.

'I'd say the same but you know…Angel on the brain and all. Where's Octavian?' The others went quiet. 'Oh.'

Suddenly an alarm went off. 'What's that?' River asked not letting go of Natasha. Though to be fair Natasha had a bit of a death grip on her. The Angel was screaming in her mind, desperate to get out and it was making Natasha's head fuzzy.

'The Angels are draining the last of the ship's power,' the Doctor explained from nearby, 'which means the shield's going to release.' There was a metal on metal noise and the Doctor spoke again. 'Angel Bob, I presume.'

'_The Time Field is coming. It will destroy our reality.'_

The Doctor sounded angry. Natasha thought it was because he was looking at the Angel who was using the remnants of Bob's consciousness. 'Yeah, and look at you all, running away. What can I do for you?'

'_There is a rupture in time. The Angels calculate that if you throw yourself into it, it will close, and they will be saved.'_

'Yeah, yeah, yeah. Could do, could do that. But why?'

'_Your friends will also be saved.'_

Natasha made a growling noise and stepped towards the Doctor. 'Don't even think about it Doctor.'

River let go of Natasha. 'I've travelled in time. I'm a complicated space time event too. Throw me in.'

'You can forget it as well River.' Natasha reached out but couldn't feel River anywhere.

'Oh, be serious River. Compared to me, these Angels are more complicated than you, and it would take every one of them to amount to me, so get a grip.'

'Doctor, I can't let you do this.' River said ignoring what he was saying.

'No, seriously, get a grip.'

River was getting angry at him. 'You're not going to die here!'

'No, I mean it. River, Amy, Natasha, get a grip.'

'Oh, you genius.'

Natasha frowned at River's sudden change of heart, and wondered what she was missing.

'_Sir, the Angels need you to sacrifice yourself now.'_

'Thing is, Bob, the Angels are draining all the power from this ship. Every last bit of it. And you know what? I think they've forgotten where they're standing. I think they've forgotten the gravity of the situation. Or to put it another way, Angels…'

Natasha felt River put her hands around something. 'You hold on tight and don't you let go for anything.' Natasha nodded and River moved away.

The Doctor finished talking, '…night, night.'

Natasha felt the ground start to tilt and held on with everything she had. After a moment she felt the unease that had plagued her disappear, as did the Angel in her mind.

'Now the hard part.' The Doctor said sounding happy. 'Climbing up.'

Natasha pulled herself on top of what she thought was the side of a computer terminal and sat, which meant she was leaning against the floor. Natasha felt someone beside her but didn't open her eyes.

'Natasha you can open your eyes now.' It was the Doctor. 'It's safe.'

She kept them shut. 'Are you sure?'

'The Angel that was in your mind had been erased, it never existed.' She didn't do anything and he sighed taking hold of her hands. 'Natasha, trust your…abilities, can you feel the Angel?'

Natasha shook her head. 'No, but I don't trust my weirdness Doctor. It's done nothing but cause me grief.'

'Then trust me…the Angel is gone.'

Natasha hesitated and then opened her eyes. When nothing happened she smiled at the Doctor. 'Thanks Doc.'

He lifted an eyebrow at her. 'Doc?'

'Yep. Bugs Bunny is my favourite cartoon and if I call you Doc I'll get to say 'what's up Doc?' And that will be hilarious.'

Sat on the side of another unit Amy and River were laughing. The Doctor just looked as though he couldn't decide whether to be insulted or amused. So he opted for neither and started to climb.

* * *

Natasha held onto the blanket that was wrapped around her. She was stood next to River watching the waves.

'Please tell me all our adventures aren't like this.'

River laughed. 'I could…'

'Yeah, yeah,' Natasha grumbled, 'spoilers.'

River bumped against Natasha's arm playfully. 'We have fun Nat, that's for sure.'

'I'm glad we're best friends.' Natasha smiled brightly. 'I can't wait until our next adventure River.'

The Doctor walked up to them and River smiled at him. 'The three of us, handcuffs. Must it always end this way?' River held up her handcuffed wrists.

'What now?' He asked with a smile.

'The prison ship's in orbit. They'll beam me up any second. I might have done enough to earn a pardon this time. We'll see.'

'Octavian said you killed a man.'

River's smile faded slightly. 'Yes, I did.'

'A good man.'

'A very good man. The best man I've ever known.'

'Who?'

'It's a long story Doctor. It can't be told, it has to be lived. No sneak previews. Well, except for this one. You'll see me again quite soon, when the Pandorica opens.'

The Doctor gave her a condescending smile. 'The Pandorica. Ha! That's a fairy tale.'

Natasha laughed. 'Doctor, we're time travellers that go around in a box that's like the Narnia wardrobe. We _are_ a fairy tale.' She gave River a quick hug. 'We'll see you there.'

'I look forward to it.' The Doctor said not arguing any more.

River smiled. 'I remember it well.'

Amy came over as well. 'Bye, River.'

'See you, Amy.' Her handcuffs beeped. 'Oh, I think that's my ride.'

The Doctor got a slightly serious look on his face. 'Can I trust you River Song?'

'If you like, but where's the fun in that?' She disappeared in a whirl of sand.

The Doctor had a strange expression on his face, Amy had spotted it as well.

'What are you thinking?' She asked as he stood smiling.

'Time can be rewritten'

Natasha smiled back at him and linked arms on his left side while Amy took the other. 'Well as long as it's written with a long, hot bath in it I don't mind.'

* * *

Inside the TARDIS Natasha was sat on a seat trying to convince her feet to take her to her room so could have a bath.

Amy who was sat next to her spoke up. 'I want to go home.' Natasha looked at her in shock.

The Doctor didn't turn towards them but Natasha could hear the disappointment in his voice. 'Okay.'

Amy laughed and went to nudge him. 'No, not like that. I just, I just want to show you something. You're running from River. I'm running too.'

'Okay,' the Doctor said slowly. 'Back to Leadworth then.' He dashed around the console flipping, pushing and moving things and then they were off.

Natasha stood and started up the stairs. 'Well you can fill me in later okay? I really need a bath to ease this headache.'

'Wait.' Natasha turned to find the Doctor behind her. 'There should be a bottle filled with small, round yellow tablets in the bathroom. Take one of them and it will help your headache.'

Natasha smiled and sighed in relief. 'Oh _thank_ you. If my weirdness is starting to make itself known all the time I'm going to need them.' She gave him a grateful hug and then went up back up the stairs walking until she found an open door.

Natasha stopped when she realised it was the room she had used before. She had been hoping the TARDIS would take her to the bathroom. Then Natasha noticed a door on one side of the room that hadn't been there before. Walking over she opened it to find a smaller version of the bathroom she had shared with Amy.

'Oh TARDIS you really are too good to me.' Natasha went in and looked in the cupboard under the sink. After checking a few annoyingly unlabelled bottles she finally found the yellow tablets and took one. In the time it took to run her bath the tablet had worked miracles and completely eradicated Natasha's headache.

Natasha slipped into her bath and let the hot water ease her tense muscles. She wondered what the Doctor had remembered about her. It had seemed to amuse him to no end for some reason. Especially something she had apparently promised to do. As she thought about it Natasha thought that her being with River seemed to trigger his memory, after all he had said to River that she was a bad influence on Natasha.

Grinning at the implications Natasha closed her eyes and relaxed. She couldn't wait until she saw River again.

* * *

_Author Note – Please let me know what you think. I want to know if I'm progressing things at the right speed._


	4. Shadows In The Library

_Author Note - Apologies - I humbly throw myself at your feet. I thought I had uploaded this chapter already - silly me. _

* * *

_**Despite your best efforts, people are going to be hurt when it's time for them to be hurt. – Haruki Murakami**_

* * *

Natasha sat under the stairs on a large cushion she had dragged there. She had all but claimed that area as her own. She was keeping a basic diary of everything she did with the Doctor as was busy adding the details of everything that had happened at the Byzantium. Including her impressions of River. Despite the brief encounter with the curly haired archaeologist, Natasha knew they would be best friends, just as River had said.

She was about to send a message to Jack when the Doctor's head appeared round the edge of the staircase. Natasha spoke without looking up. 'What's up Doc?'

Natasha could hear the grin in his voice. 'You love saying that, don't you?'

'Yup.' Natasha shut her laptop figuring he wanted to do something. 'It's my favourite cartoon, how can I resist?' She put her laptop back in the box she had put under the stairs and stood up. 'So what are you after Doc?'

The Doctor talked as she made her way back to the console. 'Well I'm trying to decide where to take Pond and Rory. I'm thinking…somewhere romantic.'

Amy stepped away from the railing she was leaning on. 'What, like a date?'

Before the Doctor could reply someone popped in next to Natasha.

Jumping in shock Natasha turned to find River stood next to her. 'River! What are you doing here?'

'Well I'm taking you somewhere you'll like. Come on.' River took hold of her arm and put her hand on the strap on River's wrist. This made the Doctor start moving towards them.

'Wait where are you going?'

River just smirked. 'Spoilers. Carry on sweetie, she'll be back soon.'

Suddenly Natasha felt as though she was being pulled all over the place. When the feeling stopped Natasha was nearly sick.

'Oh my god! I'm gonna hurl!' Natasha slapped a hand over her mouth.

River looked at her with a smile. 'You'd think you'd never travelled by vortex manipulator before.'

'Only twice and I did hurl!' Natasha cried out as she tried to get her stomach under control.

'What?' River stared at her. 'Have we – I ever done this before?'

'No.' Natasha said emphatically. 'I only met you for the first time last week.'

River frowned. 'Okay in one word tell me what happened when you saw me.'

Natasha thought for a moment. 'Oh, Byzantium. That's what we did.'

River nodded. 'Okay, I've done that too, a while ago, but still.' Suddenly the curly haired woman grinned. 'Well you never told me what our first adventure was, I guess I know now.'

Her stomach rolled again making Natasha groan. 'Oh god, you mean I'm going to do that regularly?'

'Oh yes. Hang on.' River took the vortex manipulator off her wrist and put it on Natasha's tapping a few buttons as she did. 'There, that's pre-set to take you back to the TARDIS exactly one day after you left. Just in case we get separated or something.'

Natasha frowned. 'Okay no offense, but that seems a bit…paranoid-about-safety-ish for you. You're more…take it as it comes.'

River laughed. 'True enough Nat. The first time I popped in for an adventure, you and the Doctor laid this plan out to me said if you ever turned up without it I should give it to you, just in case.'

'Wait, _we_ thought of it?' Natasha could feel a headache coming on. 'So you've just told me something…I tell you?'

'Don't worry sweetie, you'll get the hang of it.' Natasha frowned, highly doubting that. River just turned and grabbed bag from the bed that was in the room. 'Well we need to go meet with the rest of my team.'

Natasha nodded and turned towards the door. As she did she spotted a picture on a shelf near the door. Going over she picked it up. The picture was of Natasha, River and the Doctor. They were smiling into the camera and hugging each other. 'This is us and the Doc. We look so happy.'

River smiled down at the photo. 'That's my favourite picture of the three of us.'

'We look happy, even the Doctor. There aren't as many shadows in his eyes.'

'You can see that in him already?' River seemed surprised but pleased.

'Yeah sure. I suppose with – ' Natasha broke off and put the photo down to look at River. 'I'm glad he loses some of the shadows.'

River smiled softly. 'I know what you were going to say Nat. You were going to say your past made it easier to see the shadows in others. And it does.'

Natasha was surprised. 'I've told you about my past?'

'Yes, I take it you haven't told Amy and the Doctor yet?'

'No, but the Doctor knows something's up. He figured that out five minutes after he landed on my beach.'

River sighed with happiness. 'Oh, your beach, I haven't been there in years.' Suddenly she started pulling Natasha out the door. 'Come on let's get going. We'll be there soon.'

'Where?' Natasha asked as River led her along a corridor.

'The Library. A whole planet filled with books.'

Natasha's jaw dropped. 'No way! Seriously? A whole planet?'

'Got your attention have I?' River laughed and pulled her into a room where five people were finishing getting into spacesuits.

Everyone looked up as they walked in. River smiled and started talking. 'Okay sorry that took so long. Everyone, this is my friend Natasha, Natasha this is Anita, Proper Dave, Other Dave, Mr Lux and Mr Lux' personal assistant Miss Evangelista.'

Natasha smiled at each person as River pointed them out. 'Wait Proper and Other?' She looked at River. 'Did you think of that?' River nodded happily and Natasha rolled her eyes. 'That is so you River. I've only met you twice and I know that.'

Mr Lux seemed annoyed. 'Where did she come from Professor Song? She didn't board with us and we're travelling at high speed.'

River just gave him a look. 'None of your business.'

Mr Lux frowned and made a gesture to Miss Evangelista who stepped forward and handed a couple of forms to River and Natasha. 'These are contracts to say that your individual experiences inside the Library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation.'

Natasha didn't even look at the form before screwing it into a ball and tossing it over her shoulder. Beside her River did the same thing as she scoffed at Mr Lux. 'I'm not signing that, never signed one, never will.'

'Professor Song – '

'No.' River's tone was final so Mr Lux looked to Natasha.

'Hell no, don't even think about it.'

Mr Lux made a noise of frustration. 'Fine, but I expect your discretion about anything we may…see in there.'

River and Natasha both nodded. Natasha wondered just how close she and River would be. At the Byzantium, River had said they were best friends and seemed like that was true. They appeared to have a lot of things in common.

Anita stepped forward as River got into her own spacesuit and gestured at Natasha. 'Did you know you have a pencil behind your ear?'

'What?' Natasha reached up a found her favourite pencil behind her left ear. She turned and scowled at River. 'Oh thanks River! Don't tell me about that or anything, just let me look like an idiot.'

River winked. 'Of course sweetie.'

'Not funny, this is my favourite pencil. If I lose it I'm making you buy me a new set the next time I see you, whether you've done this or not.' Natasha sighed put the pencil back. 'At least I'm not barefoot or something.' River didn't respond and just carried on putting her suit on. 'No way. Are you kidding me River?'

'It was an accident, I didn't notice.' River stood up and tugged the suit up her arms. 'It's a good job we have the same shoe size isn't it.'

Natasha gaped at her. 'River, I wear Docs. Please tell me you did not – do not – please tell me you don't force to wear six inch stilettoes.'

'Spoilers.'

Natasha screwed her face up. 'I hate that word.'

'I got it from you sweetie.'

As Natasha groaned Other Dave spoke up. 'Aren't you putting a suit on?'

Natasha looked at the rack of suits behind him and shuddered. 'No, I'm not.'

'But safety protocols say – '

River zipped her suit up and looked at him. 'She's claustrophobic, she'll be fine without it. The air should be fine. We'll go ahead of her and take readings.'

Other Dave nodded and Natasha could see that River's crew trusted her judgement.

Deciding to just go with the whirlwind that was River Song, Natasha sat down to wait until they arrived.

* * *

Natasha walked beside River who was looking at a handheld computer. They were walking just ahead of the others and everyone aside from Natasha now had helmets on with the visors down.

River spoke quietly to Natasha so the others couldn't here. 'I sent the Doctor a message using my psychic paper. I was aiming for just before you and Amy started travelling with him.' She pointed at two dots on her screen. 'He's got someone with him, maybe Jack, he's sometimes invites himself along for an adventure.'

Natasha smiled. 'Cool, I'd love to finally meet him. He's a riot to talk to.'

River grinned at her. 'Well they're just up here see let's see who's with him.'

Smiling Natasha fell back to beside Other Dave as River started talking louder. 'Okay everyone, there's a nice central room up here that will be a good place to start from.' Natasha held back a snigger at this. 'Other Dave when we go in you stay here with Natasha until I say she can come in, alright?' Other Dave nodded. River stopped outside a pair of double doors. 'Okay, let's make an entrance.' She held out her gun and blasted the doors open. Waiting with Other Dave Natasha listened as River walked in with the others.

She heard River say hello sweetie and then a familiar voice started.

'Get out. All of you, turn around, get back in your rocket and fly away! Tell your grandchildren you came to the Library and lived, they won't believe you.'

River spoke up again. 'Pop your helmets, everyone. We've got breathers. Other Dave, Nat you can come in now.'

Natasha walked in and was immediately distracted by architecture of the room. 'Oh wow, no wonder you thought I'd like this place. Books and beautiful architecture. Nice.'

'How do you know they're not androids?' Anita asked as she removed her helmet.

'Cos I've dated androids. They're rubbish.' River said as she came to stand next to Natasha.

Mr Lux was getting annoyed again. 'Who is this? You said we were the only expedition, I paid for exclusives.'

River smirked at the business man. 'I lied, I'm always lying. Bound to be others.'

Natasha finally looked at the Doctor who looked the same as when the Face of Boe, or rather Jack, had summoned her to the future. He also looked completely frustrated that they weren't listening to him. A red headed woman was stood nearby looking confused.

Mr Lux clicked his fingers. 'Miss Evangelista, I want to see the contracts.'

River turned to face the Doctor who was looking annoyed. 'You came through the north door, yeah? How was that, much damage?'

He ignored that. 'Please, just leave. I'm asking you seriously and properly, just lea…hang on. Did you say expedition?' Apparently he still made sudden topic changes at this point of his timeline.

Mr Lux looked at the Doctor. 'My expedition, I funded it.'

The Doctor looked mildly disgusted. 'Oh, you're not, are you? Tell me you're not archaeologists.'

'What's wrong with archaeologists?' River and Natasha said at the same time with a grin.

The Doctor just looked bored. 'I'm a time traveller. I point and laugh at archaeologists.'

Natasha laughed and patted his shoulder as she walked up to him. 'That's not the first time you've said that to me Doc.'

'Doc?' He said in confusion as he looked at her. 'Do I know you? You look familiar.'

River held out her hand to him. 'Professor River Song, archaeologist. That's Nat, she's not actually an archaeologist but she has the degree.'

The Doctor took hold of one of her hands and one of River's and started pulling them towards the door. 'River Song, Nat, lovely names, as you're leaving, and you're leaving now... you need to set up a quarantine beacon. Code-wall the planet, the whole planet. Nobody comes here, not ever again... not one living thing, not here, not ever.' Just then he turned to Anita. 'Stop right there! What's your name?'

'Anita.'

'Anita, stay out of the shadows. Not a foot, not a finger in the shadows till you're safely back in your ship. Goes for all of you. Stay in the light. Find a nice, bright spot and just stand. If you understand me, look very, very scared.'

Natasha just started grinning which seemed to confuse him. 'Er…that's not what I said.'

'Nope, but it is fun.' Just then Natasha got some pictures in her head. A chicken bone, a little girl and she heard a phone ringing.

River grabbed her arm. 'Nat, what did you see?'

Natasha looked at her. 'Er…a chicken bone, a little girl and I heard a phone ringing.'

The Doctor came over and peered at her. 'What do you mean 'see'? See what?'

Natasha grinned at him. 'You're so intense this time around.'

The Doctor frowned and then quickly walked over to Other Dave who was near the door they came in. 'You, who are you?'

'Uh, Dave.'

'OK, Dave...'

'Oh, well Other Dave, because that's Proper Dave the pilot, he was the first Dave, so when we...'

The Doctor pulled to look out into the hallway. 'Other Dave, the way you came, does it look the same as before?'

Other Dave looked out. 'Yeah. Oh…it's a bit darker.'

'How much darker?'

'Oh, like I could see where we came through just like a moment ago. I can't now.' Other Dave pointed in the direction they had come.

The Doctor got a look on his face that Natasha recognised making her sigh. 'Oh great you've got that look.'

'Seal up this door. We'll find another way out.' The Doctor turned to look at her. 'Look? What look?'

'The look that's means you're way ahead of the rest of us and have figured out something bad.' Natasha explained as he walked back towards them. Behind him Other Dave was sealing the door.

Mr Lux spoke up again. 'We're not looking for a way out. Miss Evangelista?'

The girl went over to the Doctor and his friend passing them the same contracts Lux had tried to get her and River to sign. 'I'm Mr. Lux's personal... everything. You need to sign these contracts agreeing that your individual experiences inside the Library are the intellectual property of the Felman Lux Corporation.'

'Right, give it here.' The Doctor said as he took one.

His friend took one as well. 'Yeah, lovely. Thanks.'

Then they both tore them in half and threw the pieces away.

'My family built this Library. I have rights.' Mr Lux said getting angry again.

'You have a mouth that won't stop.' River said before looking at the Doctor. 'You think there's danger here?'

The Doctor got a really sarcastic tone. 'Something came to this Library and killed everything in it, killed a whole world. Danger? Could be.'

'That was 100 years ago. The Library's been silent for 100 years. Whatever came here is long dead.'

'Bet your life?' He asked looking at both River and Natasha.

They grinned and spoke in unison again. 'Always.' The Doctor just looked them over without saying anything.

The red haired pointed at them. 'That's weird.'

Mr Lux was talking to Other Dave. 'What are you doing?'

'He said seal the door.'

Natasha lost track of what they were saying as something pushed in her mind. A wave of anger and almost…hunger washed over her making her sway a little.

River grabbed hold of her. 'Natasha are you alright?'

She shook her head. 'He's right, there's something here. _Lots_ of somethings and they're angry.

The Doctor looked up briefly from his examination of the shadows. 'Almost every species in the universe has an irrational fear of the dark. But they're wrong. Cos it's not irrational. It's Vashta Nerada.'

His friend looked to him for an explanation. 'What's Vashta Nerada?'

'It's what's in the dark. It's what's always in the dark.'

As he ran around Natasha got more pictures in her head. A flashing neural relay, someone walking in a spacesuit weirdly and River's blue diary on a railing. She shook the images away in time to hear River address the Doctor.

'Pretty boy, you're with me.' River then came back to Natasha who was leaning against a tall desk. 'You alright?'

'More pictures,' she rubbed her head, 'please tell me this gets better in the future. I don't want to have a headache for the rest of my life.'

River smiled. 'You can handle anything.'

'That's not exactly an answer.'

'I know but trust me, you can take more than you know.'

Natasha watched as River pulled her blue book from her bag. 'How close are we River? I might not know you well but we just seem to…click.'

River gave her a one armed hug. 'In the…well _your_ future you call me your big sister. And that's pretty much what we are.'

Natasha beamed at this. 'Really?' River nodded. 'I always wanted a big sister.'

'I know.' River looked across the room. 'Pretty boy with me I said.'

The Doctor looked up in surprise and said something to his friend before walking over.

River smiled when he got to them. 'Thanks.'

'For what?' He asked as he leaned against the desk and folded his arms.

'The usual. For coming when I call.'

He lifted his eyebrows at her. 'Oh, that was you?'

'You're doing a very good job, acting like you don't know me. I'm assuming there's a reason.' River smiled as she flipped through her book.

Natasha got a pull and touched his arm. Then got a flash in her head. 'River…he doesn't.'

'What?' River said without looking up. 'OK, shall we do diaries, then? Where are we this time? Uh, going by your face, I'd say it's early days for you. Yes? So, um... crash of the Byzantium, I know we haven't done that yet.'

The Doctor just looked at her.

Natasha grabbed River's hand. 'River! I got a flash, he's _never_ met you!'

River looked stunned and turned back to him. 'What?'

'Look at his eyes River, he's younger.' Natasha said as those eyes flicked to her.

River gasped. 'You're right, he is.'

'He is right here. And also not young'

River shook her head. 'But you are. You really…don't know us, do you?'

'Who are you?' The Doctor looked at Natasha. 'And you, I know you from somewhere – '

Suddenly there was a loud noise and the Doctor wandered off towards Proper Dave. Natasha gasped when she recognised it. 'River, that's the phone I heard.'

'Sorry, that was me.' Proper Dave called out. 'Trying to get through into the security protocols, I seem to have set something off. What is that? Is that an alarm?'

The Doctor's friend went over to him. 'Doctor? Doctor, that sounds like...'

He looked confused. 'Yeah it is, it's a phone.'

The Doctor went over to Proper Dave and Natasha turned to River. 'How can he not know you? I thought you aimed for _just_ before he met me?'

River looked nearly heartbroken. 'I – I don't know it must have gotten to him too soon.'

'Hey, are you okay?'

River looked at her and smiled. 'Yeah, I shouldn't be so upset, but…I can't help it.'

Just then they realised the Doctor was talking to someone and walked closer.

'Well, no, I'm, I'm... sort of in space. I, I was trying to call up the data core of a triple-grid security processor.'

'Would you like to speak to my dad?' A girl's voice came from the terminal.

Natasha looked over the Doctor's shoulder and recognised the girl that was there from the picture in her head.

'Dad or your mum,' the Doctor replied, 'that'd be lovely.'

'I know you! You were in my Library.' The girl came closer to the screen.

'_Your_ Library?'

'The Library's never been on the television before. What have you done?'

'Ah, I... I just rerouted the interface...'

The connection suddenly ended and the ACCESS DENIED signal reappeared.

River looked at the screen. 'What happened, who was that?'

Natasha shrugged. 'Dunno but I recognised her.'

The Doctor stood up straight and looked at her. 'How?'

'Spoilers.' Natasha told him which he didn't seem to like.

The Doctor ran off to the terminal where they had been stood before. 'I need another terminal. Keep working on those lights, we need those lights!'

'You heard him, people, let there be light.' River said to the crew as they didn't move. She then suddenly dragged Natasha towards the Doctor and picked up her blue book just as he was about to pick it up. 'Sorry. You're not allowed to see inside the book, it's against the rules.'

'What rules?'

'Your rules.'

Suddenly some books flew off the shelves making the Doctor look away from River. 'What's that? I didn't do that, did you do that?'

'Not me.' Proper Dave said from the other terminal.

The screen changed and now had 'CAL' written above the ACCESS DENIED

'What's CAL?' The Doctor called out.

The books stopped for a moment and Natasha saw the Doctor's friend go to Miss Evangelista who seemed scared.

Then the books started flying again. Making River look around. 'What's causing that? Is it the little girl?'

'But who is the little girl? What's she got to do with this place?' The Doctor said looking around at everyone. 'How does the data core work? What's the principle? What's CAL?'

River waved her hand at Lux. 'Ask Mr Lux.'

The Doctor turned to the business man. 'CAL, what is it?'

'Sorry.' Mr Lux said sounding the complete opposite. 'You didn't sign your personal experience contracts.'

The Doctor got down from his seat on the counter and walked over to him. 'Mr Lux, right now, you're in more danger than you've ever been in your whole life. And you're protecting a _patent_?'

'I'm protecting my family's pride.'

'Well, funny thing, Mr Lux, I don't want to see everyone in this room dead because some idiot thinks his pride is more important.'

'Then why don't you sign his contract?' River said before waiting a moment when the Doctor just looked at her. 'We didn't either. I'm getting worse than you and you're being a bad influence on Nat.'

The Doctor just seemed confused by her and wandered off, talking as he did. 'Okay, okay, okay. Let's start at the beginning. What happened here? On the actual day, a hundred years ago, what physically happened?'

River spoke as he went to stand near his friend. 'There was a message from the Library. Just one. "The lights are going out". Then the computer sealed the planet, and there was nothing for a hundred years.'

'It's taken three generations of my family just to decode the seals and get back in.' Mr Lux said surprising everyone with his helpfulness.

Natasha decided to let them just talk and leaned against a table rubbing her sore head. This Doctor was so different. He didn't have that goofy edge to him; he was more intense and serious. This just confirmed the theories she'd started to make about him during the brief visit to New Earth. Whole new face meant whole new man.

'There was one other thing in the last message...' River said as she went in her bag near Natasha.

Mr Lux took a step forward. 'That's confidential.'

River just looked at him. 'I trust this man. With my life, with everything.'

'You've only just met him!'

Natasha waved her hand to get attention. 'Technically he's only just met us. We already know him.' This just made everyone except River look at her in confusion which just made her chuckle. 'I love saying that kind of thing instead of him.' She said to her blond friend.

'Um. This might be important actually...' Miss Evangelista said from somewhere. Natasha couldn't see from her where she was stood.

'In a moment!' Mr Lux all but yelled at her.

River showed the Doctor her computer. 'This is a data extract that came with the message.'

"4022 saved. No survivors." He read out loud.

'4022, that's the exact number of people who were in the Library when the planet was sealed.' River said reading the rest of the information on her computer.

The Doctor's friend watched him as she spoke. 'But how can 4022 people have been saved if there were no survivors?'

River exchanged a look with Mr Lux. 'That's what we're here to find out.'

Mr Lux got a hard look on his face. 'And so far what we haven't found are any bodies.'

Natasha shuddered at that thought but was curious as to where everyone had gone. Suddenly wave of anger and hunger swept over her making Natasha clutch her head and cry out.

River took her arm to support her. 'Natasha! What is it?'

Natasha didn't answer lost in the emotions. Suddenly she got an image of Miss Evengelista and a wave of fear pushed into her head. 'Oh no!' Natasha immediately started running towards where the emotions came from just as a scream split the air.

When she entered the small lecture room she saw the skeleton in the corner and felt her own anger rise.

From behind her she heard the Doctor warn everyone to stay in the light.

Natasha turned to snarl at the Doctor. 'No shit Sherlock! The shadows are eating people but maybe we should go dance in them! How about that?'

River stepped towards her but Natasha just shook her head. She turned and stormed out of the room, kicking a pile of books as she did. 'You stupid bloody shadows!'

She went back to the main room and paced up and down the centre of the light area muttering to herself as she did.

'Stupid bloody shadows. Stupid bloody weirdness not coming quick enough.' Natasha ran her fingers through her long brown hair. 'Stupid, stupid, _stupid_! I need a bigger brain then I might understand things quicker.'

'I'm usually the one to say that.'

Natasha looked up to see the Doctor watching her. She looked away and resumed pacing. 'Yeah, now I get why you say it so much. Evangelista is ghosting, isn't she?' River had explained what the relays were to Natasha as they had been walking in the Library.

'Yes.' The Doctor came closer to her. 'You felt the Vashta Nerada swarm.' It wasn't a question but Natasha nodded anyway. 'How?'

Natasha gave a bitter laugh. 'No clue. And don't you try to figure it out yet, god knows what that would do to the timelines.

Just then the others came back into the main room. River came straight over to her.

'Are you okay? You can't blame yourself.'

Natasha shrugged. 'I'm fine, but I hate this. This either needs to disappear or work quicker.'

The Doctor suddenly sprang into action flicking his torch around the room. 'Right. I'm gonna need a packed lunch.'

'Hang on.' River crouched next to her bag and the Doctor joined her. Searching for the food, she first pulled out her TARDIS book.

Natasha watched as the Doctor looked at it. 'What's in that book?'

'Spoilers.' River said as she dug for her lunch.

The Doctor wasn't giving up though. 'Who are you?' He glanced at Natasha. 'Who are both of you?'

'Professor River Song, University of – '

He cut across her reply. 'To me. Who are the two of you to me?'

River sighed as she finally found her lunch box. 'Again... spoilers.' She holds out the open box. 'Chicken, and a bit of salad. Knock yourself out.'

The Doctor watched her for a long moment and then grabbed the lunch box. Suddenly Natasha knew just what he was going to do with it. 'Right, you lot. Let's all meet the Vashta Nerada!'

The Doctor started scanning the shadows with his torch and sonic screwdriver. Natasha followed behind him curiously, making sure to not get in his way.

She heard River talking to the Doctor's friend behind her. But she paid more attention to the Doctor eager to learn more about this version of him.

The Doctor glanced at her briefly. 'Following me?'

Natasha laughed. 'Yep, always have, always will.'

He didn't reply to that but just asked Proper Dave to move out the way. When that was done he went back to his scanning.

River and the red head had been talking quietly up to this point so the others hadn't heard him but now the Doctor's friend talked a lot louder.

'What are you talking about? Are you just talking rubbish? Do you know him or don't you?'

'Donna! Quiet! I'm working.'

So that was her name, Natasha thought realising it was the first time either of them had said it.

Donna stopped and held her breath for a moment. 'Sorry.'

Natasha went back to watching the Doctor work and he turned on the floor Natasha realised she had a _really_ good view of the Doctor's very nice bum. 'I'm curious…do all your regenerations look so cute?'

The Doctor stopped and looked at her. 'What?' He seemed perplexed.

'Never mind,' she grinned at him. 'Carry on.'

The Doctor looked like he wanted to ask something but then returned to his scanning. After a moment he stood up. 'OK, we've got a live one! That's not darkness down those tunnels, this is not a shadow. It's a swarm. A man-eating swarm.'

He crouched and tossed one of the chicken legs under the table and it was bare before it hit the ground. Donna was crouched on the Doctor's left and Natasha crouched on his right. River was stood behind them looking under the table as well.

'The piranhas of the air, the Vashta Nerada.' The Doctor said continuing his explanation. 'Literally "the shadows that melt the flesh". Most planets have them, but usually in small clusters. I've never seen an infestation on this scale, or this aggressive.'

Donna looked at him with a bit of fear in her eyes. 'What d'you mean, most planets? Not Earth?'

'Mmm, Earth, and a billion other worlds. Where there's meat, there's Vashta Nerada. You can see them sometimes, if you look. The dust in sunbeams.' The Doctor kept watching Donna as he talked.

'If they were on Earth, we'd know.'

'Nah, normally they live on road kill. But sometimes people go missing. Not everyone comes back out of the dark.'

'Besides,' Natasha said getting their attention. 'Humans have the habit of ignoring things they can't explain.'

River looked around with her torch. 'Every shadow?'

The Doctor looked around as well. 'No. But any shadow.'

'So what do we do?' River asked fearfully.

'Daleks - aim for the eyestalk. Sontarans - back of the neck. Vashta Nerada... Run. Just run.' The Doctor turned to look at River.

Natasha stood and went next to River watching the shadows as she did. 'And where do we run _to_ exactly?'

The Doctor stood up. 'This is an index point. There must be an exit teleport somewhere.' Everyone turned to look at Mr Lux.

'Don't look at me, I haven't memorised the schematics!'

Donna pointed in excitement. 'Doctor, the little shop! They always make you go through the little shop on the way out so they can sell you stuff.'

The Doctor ran to the door she had pointed at. 'You're right! Brilliant! That's why I like the little shop!'

'OK, let's move it!' Proper Dave stood and immediately started moving.

Suddenly the Doctor looked at Dave. 'Actually, Proper Dave, could you stay where you are for a moment?'

Dave stopped in confusion. 'Why?'

Natasha saw the sad look in the Doctor's eyes and looked back at Dave spotting what the Doctor had seen.

The Doctor went over to Dave. 'I'm sorry. I am so, so sorry. But you've got two shadows.' Everyone else looked at Proper Dave's two shadows and instinctively took a step back from him. 'It's how they hunt, they latch on to a food source and keep it fresh.'

'What do I do?' Dave asked sounding slightly panicked.

'You stay absolutely still. Like there's a wasp in the room, like there's a million wasps.'

River kept looking between Dave and the shadows. 'We're not leaving you, Dave.'

The Doctor didn't look away from Dave. 'Course we're not leaving. Where's your helmet? Don't point, just tell me.'

'On the floor, by my bag.' Everyone could hear the slight quiver to his voice.

Anita moved to fetch his helmet and the Doctor warned her to not cross his shadow.

The Doctor took the helmet. 'Thanks. Now, the rest of you, helmets back on and sealed up. We'll need everything we've got.' He then proceeded to put Proper Dave's helmet on.

'But, Doctor, we haven't got any helmets.' Donna said as she watched him. 'Neither does Nat.'

'Yeah, but we're safe anyway.'

Natasha snorted, but managed to turn it into a cough.

'How are we safe?' Donna asked, clearly not believing him.

'We're not, that was a clever lie to shut you up. Professor, anything I can do with the suit?'

Mr Lux looked at the Doctor as though he were stupid which Natasha found highly amusing. 'What good are the damn suits? Miss Evangelista was wearing her suit, there was nothing left.'

River was looking through her bag again. 'We can increase the mesh-density, dial it up 400%. Make it a tougher meal.'

The Doctor soniced Proper Dave's suit. 'OK. 800%! Pass it on.' He held out the screwdriver as though to give it to River.

Instead she held up a similar one. 'Gotcha!'

He stopped and stared at it. 'What's that?'

Natasha moved closer and looked at it. 'No. Way. It's a sonic! Wicked!'

River smiled at her and then back at the Doctor. 'Snap!' She wandered off and started sonicing the other suits.

Natasha noticed the Doctor watching her suspiciously before running off with Donna.

River returned and handed the sonic screwdriver to Natasha who giggled. 'Ooh yeah!'

'Don't get any ideas. Just sonic me with it after I've got my helmet on.'

Natasha gave a fake pout. 'Aw, stop being the _boring _big sister.'

River laughed and slid her helmet into place. 'Just do it.' Natasha did as she was told and handed the screwdriver back.

As she turned to check on Dave she spotted something that immediately killed her amusement. 'Er…everybody stand still.' Thankfully they did so she moved towards Dave. 'Dave, how you doing there?

'I'm fine why?'

'Because, your second shadow is gone.'

River turned and came over to Natasha's side before shouting. 'Doctor!'

After a second he came back in without Donna. 'What? What's wrong!'

Natasha gestured at the floor near Dave. 'His second shadow has disappeared.'

'Where did it go?'

She shrugged. 'No clue. I helped River with her suit and turned to check on Dave and…no shadow.'

River came looked around again. 'Does that mean we can leave? I don't want to hang around here.'

Mr Lux decided to start talking again. 'I don't know why we're still here. We can leave him, can't we? I mean, no offence...'

River and Natasha spoke together again. 'Shut up, Mr Lux.'

The Doctor kept looking Dave over. 'Did you feel anything? Like an energy transfer? Anything at all?'

Proper Dave shook his head. 'No, no, but, look, it's, it's gone.' Dave started to turn around.

The Doctor quickly held his hands up. 'Stop there, stop, stop, stop there, stop moving! They're never just gone. And they never give up.' He knelt to the floor and started examining the shadow Dave still had. 'Well, this one's benign.'

'Hey, who turned out the lights?' Dave asked suddenly.

The Doctor stopped sonicing and looked up at Dave. 'No-one, they're fine.'

'No, seriously, turn them back on!'

River looked around in confusion. 'They are on.'

'I can't see a ruddy thing.'

The Doctor stood up next to Natasha again. 'Dave, turn round.'

As Dave turned everyone could see his helmet was dark.

'What's going on? Why can't I see? Is the power gone, are we safe here?'

The Doctor actually looked worried now. 'Dave, I want you stay still, absolutely still.' Suddenly Dave stiffened and jerked. 'Dave, Dave? Dave, can you hear me, are you all right? Talk to me, Dave.'

'I'm fine, I'm OK, I'm... I'm fine.'

Natasha looked at the neural relay and saw the flashing light. She silently pointed it out to the Doctor.

'He's gone. He's ghosting.' River said sadly.

Mr Lux looked the suit up and down. 'Then why is he still standing?'

Natasha shuddered and took a step back. 'Because, the _swarm_ is still in there.'

'Hey! Who turned out the lights?'

The Doctor moved a little closer. 'Dave, can you hear me?'

River took a step towards the Doctor. 'Doctor, don't!'

'Hey! Who turned out the lights?'

Suddenly the suit started choking the Doctor and he fell to his knees. As the suit moved the skeleton inside fell against the visor.

Natasha ran forwards and tried to loosen the suits grips. It wasn't working until River stepped forward.

'Excuse me.' She put her sonic against a port on the suit and sent a shock through it.

The suit immediately let the Doctor go and started seizing.

'Back from it, get back, right back!' The Doctor shouted as he scrambled to his feet.

Everyone backed up as the suit slowly shambled towards them.

Natasha realised this was one of the other pictures she had seen. 'Oh god, River, I saw this too.'

River took her hand and squeezed it. 'Well it's not moving very fast is it?'

The Doctor looked as though he were both scared and excited. 'It's a swarm in a suit, but it's learning.'

Several long shadows started reaching out from the Swarm suit and came towards them.

Mr Lux yelled out. 'What do we do? Where do we go?'

River turned to him, still holding Natasha's hand. 'See that wall behind you? Duck!' She fired as Lux ducked out of the way and a square beam hit the wall and made a hole.

The Doctor looked pleasantly surprised. 'Squareness gun!'

River ignored that comment. 'Everybody out. Go, go, go! Move it, move, move! Move it, move, move!' She shoved Natasha ahead of her.

Unfortunately they were in a very shadowy corridor lined with tall bookshelves.

River looked around. 'You said not every shadow.'

The Doctor also looked at the shadows. 'But any shadow!'

The Swarm suit started to walk through the hole River had made. 'Hey! Who turned out the lights?'

'Run!' River grabbed one of the Doctor's hands and tugged him along with Natasha.

* * *

A few minutes later they came to a stop panting for breath. The Doctor and Natasha weren't as bad as the others since they hadn't had to run in the suits.

Now though the Doctor was balancing on a stool a fiddling with a light and his screwdriver. The light was too dim for Natasha's comfort.

'I'll just try to boost the power. Light doesn't stop them, but it slows them down.'

River removed her helmet and walked over to him, Natasha was right behind her. 'So, what's the plan? Do we have a plan?' She reached up with her own screwdriver and the suddenly became much stronger.

Natasha laughed slightly at the Doctor's expression. 'River stop confusing him.'

The Doctor just looked at River's screwdriver. 'Your screwdriver... looks exactly like mine.'

'Yeah. You gave it to me.' River said with a smile.

'I don't give my screwdriver to anyone.'

This time River outright grinned. 'I'm not just anyone. Neither is Natasha.'

The Doctor looked slightly scared. 'Who are you two?'

Natasha scoffed. 'Never mind that, what's the plan?'

'I teleported Donna back to the TARDIS. If we don't get back there in under five hours, emergency program one will activate.'

River nodded. 'Take her home, yeah. We need to get a shift on.'

Suddenly the Doctor looked at his sonic and looked more confused and worried. 'She's not there. I should've received a signal, the console signals me if there's a teleport breach.'

'Well, maybe the co-ordinates have slipped. The equipment here's ancient.' River said calmly to try and reassure him.

The Doctor ran to a nearby Node. 'Donna Noble. There's a Donna Noble somewhere in this Library. Do you have the software to locate her position?'

The Node turned its head towards them and Natasha gasped when she saw it wearing Donna's face.

The Node spoke. 'Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved.'

The Doctor looked horrified. 'Donna!'

'Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved.'

'How can it be Donna? How's that possible?' River asked him.

'Donna Noble has left the Library. Donna Noble has been saved.'

Natasha felt a couple of tears slide down her cheeks. 'The swarm must have hitched a ride or something.'

The Doctor reached up and touched the Node's version of Donna's face. 'Oh, Donna!'

Natasha moved up to him. 'Doctor…please, we need to move.'

'Hey! Who turned out the lights?'

River grabbed his hand and yanked the Doctor away from the Node.

Everyone ran round the corner but suddenly stopped when the shadows ahead of them started moving.

River quickly made a hole with her squareness gun. 'Quickly through here.' River went first and everyone followed her.

* * *

After a few minutes of making holes they left the moving shadows and the Swarm suit behind and ended up in another large circular room.

River ushered the others ahead of her. 'OK, we've got a clear spot. In, in, in! Right in the centre, in the middle of the light, quickly! Don't let your shadows cross. Doctor...'

The Doctor was already on the floor scanning. 'I'm doing it.'

Natasha felt a pushing in her head. 'Ugh, the swarms are gloating about the sun setting soon.'

River looked at the sky above them and then back to the Doctor. 'Have you found a live one?'

'Maybe, it's getting harder to tell.' The Doctor slammed the sonic against his hand a few times. 'What's wrong with you?'

'We're gonna need a chicken leg. Who's got a chicken leg?' Dave opened his own lunch and handed a piece of chicken to River. 'Thanks, Dave.' She threw the chicken into the shadow near the Doctor and it was stripped before it hit the floor. 'OK... OK, we've got a hot one. Watch your feet.'

Natasha screwed her nose up as she stood near where the others were sat. 'I am never eating chicken again.'

'They won't attack until there's enough of them, but they've got our scent now, they're coming.' The Doctor got up and went to check some of the other shadows in the room.

Natasha paced back and forth between River and the Doctor. In her opinion that was the safest place to be. After a moment though she went closer to the Doctor to talk to him quietly.

'Doc?'

'Hmm?' he said without looking up.

'Do you know of any way to remove a shadow once it attaches?'

He glanced up at her. 'Why, have you – '

'No, but since they've started homing in on us I can tell where they are easier.' She pointed at the shadow in front of him. 'That one is empty. I figured if you knew how to get them off and I knew which shadow they were…' Natasha drifted off as the Doctor just looked at her.

He turned back to scanning the shadows including the one she'd told him was empty. 'No I don't, even if I did they'd probably kill before I could remove them.' The Doctor shook his sonic when it didn't do what he wanted.

River came over to them. 'What's wrong with it?'

The Doctor held his sonic up to his ear. 'There's a signal coming from somewhere, interfering with it.'

'Then use the red settings.' She said as though it were obvious.

'It doesn't have a red setting.'

'Well, use the dampers.'

'It doesn't have dampers.' The Doctor seemed to be getting more and more confused.

River just held out her own sonic. 'It will do one day.'

The Doctor stood and took it from her. 'So some time in the future, I just give you my screwdriver.'

Natasha snorted. 'Obviously, she has it right there.'

He looked at her and then back at River. 'Why would I do that?'

'I didn't pluck it from your cold dead hands, if that's what you're worried about.' River looked at Natasha and rolled her eyes.

'Yeah, we can't rid of you that easily.' Natasha perched on a desk next to them and looked up through the skylight at the rising moon against the red sky.

'And I know that because...?'

'Listen to me. You've lost your friend, you're angry, I understand, _we_ understand.' River moved slightly closer to him. 'But you need to be less emotional, Doctor. Right now...'

'Less em... I'm not emotional!'

'We both know you are Doc.' Natasha said without looking away from the sky.

'There are six people in this room, still alive, focus on that.' River said with increasing frustration. 'Dear God, you're hard work young!'

'I second that.' Natasha said glancing over at them.

'Young? Who are you two?!' The Doctor demanded.

'Oh, for heaven's sake! Look at the two of you!' Mr Lux said as he stood up. 'We're all gonna die right here, and you're just squabbling like an old married couple.'

Natasha's eyes widened at that statement and she turned to look at the Doctor and River. The Doctor was staring at River in shock.

'Doctor... one day I'm going to be someone that you trust completely, but I can't wait for you to find that out. So I'm going to prove it to you. And I'm sorry. I'm really…very sorry.' River was on the verge of tears as she leaned forward to whisper in the Doctor's ear.

When River moved back the Doctor looked like he'd been hit in the face with a sledgehammer.

'Are we good?' River asked him, but he didn't respond. 'Doctor... are we good?'

The Doctor still seemed stunned but replied. 'Yeah...yeah, we're good.'

'Good.' River took her own sonic back off him and walked over to Natasha.

Natasha got off the table and put her hand on River's arm. She looked devastated. 'River…you okay?'

River shrugged but didn't look up from the floor. 'I'm fine.'

Natasha turned River towards her. 'Hey, big sis,' River looked at her. '_Are_ you okay?'

River pulled herself together and smiled. 'I will be.'

The Doctor seemed to pull himself back together as well. 'Know what's interesting about my screwdriver? Very hard to interfere with, practically nothing's strong enough... Well, some hairdryers, but I'm working on that. So there is a very strong signal coming from somewhere, and it wasn't there before, so what's new, what's changed?'

Natasha didn't know much about the sonic so she leaned back to look up at the…

'The moon.' She said as noticed what she was looking at.

'Come on! What's new? What's different?' The Doctor yelled apparently not hearing her.

'Oi, moron!' When the Doctor looked at her in surprise Natasha pointed up. 'The _moon_ has risen.'

He looked up with everybody else. 'Moon rise...' He glanced briefly at Natasha and she thought she saw a glimmer of admiration in his eyes. 'Tell me about the moon. What's there?'

Mr Lux shook his head. 'It's not real, it was built as part of the Library. It's just a doctor moon.'

'What's a doctor moon?'

'A virus checker. It supports and maintains the main computer at the core of the planet.'

The Doctor walked to the middle of the skylight and activated his sonic. 'Well, still active, it's signalling, look. Someone somewhere in this Library is alive and communicating with the moon, or, possibly alive and drying their hair. No, the signal's definitely coming from the moon. I'm blocking it, but it's trying to break through...'

Suddenly an image of Donna appeared in the middle of the floor, projected outward from the sonic.

River called out. 'Doctor!'

He looked up and saw the image. 'Donna!' Just then the image faded.

'Doctor, that was your friend!' River pointed at the spot Donna had appeared. 'Can you get her back? What was that?'

Just then Natasha felt another pull and she got up and walked over to Anita who was looking at the floor. She had two shadows.

Anita looked up at Natasha with tears in her eyes.

Natasha didn't look away. 'River…'

'Just a moment.'

'River, Anita has two shadows.'

Everyone spun around and River came over to them. 'OK. Helmets on, everyone. Anita, I'll get yours.'

Anita stayed still but looked away from Natasha to River. 'It didn't do Proper Dave any good.'

'Just keep it together, OK?' River grabbed Anita's helmet as Natasha looked down at the two shadows.

'Keeping it together, I'm only crying.' Anita smiled wryly. 'I'm about to die, it's not an overreaction.' River reached up and put the helmet on Anita locking it into position.

The Doctor came to stand next to Natasha. 'Hang on.' He waved his sonic over the visor and it turned dark.

When River saw this she gasped. 'Oh god, they've got inside.'

'No, no, no, I just tinted her visor. Maybe they'll think they're already in there, leave her alone.'

River sounded impressed. 'D'you think they can be fooled like that?'

The Doctor turned to look at her. 'Maybe. I don't know. It's a swarm, it's not like we chat.'

'Can you still see in there?' Other Dave asked Anita.

'Just about.'

The Doctor waved Other Dave and Mr Lux back a bit. 'Just, just, just... stay back.' He then gestured to River. 'Professor, Natasha , a quick word, please.'

Natasha watched in confusion as he suddenly crouched on the floor.

'Er what are you doing?' She asked him quietly.

'Down here. Look at this.'

Natasha rolled her eyes but crouched down, next to them River did the same.

'What is it?' River asked in a low tone.

'Like you said, there are six people still alive in this room.' He said in almost a whisper.

River nodded. 'Yeah, so?'

'So...why are there seven?'

Natasha looked up and saw the swarm suit behind Other Dave and Mr Lux. As the others looked as well the suit started talking again.

'Hey! Who turned out the lights?'

'Run!' The Doctor yelled letting River lead the way.

As they ran the swarm suit seemed to be better at keeping up with them. As the reached a glass covered walkway the Doctor slowed down.

'Professor, go ahead, find a safe spot.'

Natasha skidded to a stop with River.

'It's a carnivorous swarm in a suit, you can't reason with it.' River shouted at him as he stopped in the middle of the walkway.

Natasha scowled at him. 'Doctor this isn't the time for diplomacy!'

'Five minutes.' The Doctor said watching for the suit to arrive.

'Two minutes!' Natasha and River said together.

River gestured to Other Dave. 'Other Dave, stay with him, pull him out when he's too stupid to live.'

Running ahead with River, Mr Lux and Anita, Natasha found herself praying the Doctor would be okay.

Eventually the reached another large room and River called out. 'Okay let's stop here. We've got good views of the entrances.'

Natasha came to a stop next to River. Anita and Mr Lux stopped beside to them.

River started examining the shadows near them. 'Can you feel anything Nat?'

Natasha looked around trying to 'feel' but just shrugged. 'If they're here I'm not getting them.'

River crouched to examine a shadow around a slightly raised area in the middle of the room. 'You know... it's funny, I keep wishing the Doctor was here.'

Natasha looked down at the friend she didn't know yet. 'I know what you mean. The same but different.'

Anita turned to look at them. 'The Doctor is here, isn't he? He's coming back, right?'

River stood and looked at Anita. 'You know when you see a photograph of someone you know, but it's from years before you knew them? It's like they're not quite... finished, they're not done yet. Well... yes, the Doctor's here.' River glanced at Natasha. 'And my little sister. They came when I wanted them, just like they always do. But they're not quite mine yet. My little sister is so fierce she walks where others dare not. And my Doctor... I've seen whole armies turn and run away. And he'd just swagger off back to his TARDIS and open the doors with a snap of his fingers. The Doctor... in the TARDIS... next stop: everywhere.'

A voice suddenly spoke behind River and Natasha making them spin around.

'Spoilers!' The Doctor came down the small staircase. 'Nobody can open a TARDIS by snapping their fingers. It doesn't work like that.' He walked past them.

'It does for the Doctor.' River said stubbornly.

He turned to look at them. 'I am the Doctor.'

'Yeah. Some day.'

The Doctor glanced at Natasha. 'What no surround sound this time?'

Natasha shook her head. 'River knows more than me at this point.'

The Doctor turned and went to Anita. 'How are you doing?'

River looked around. 'Where's Other Dave?'

'Not coming, sorry.'

Natasha scowled at the thought of losing someone else.

Anita spoke quietly to the Doctor. 'Well, if they've taken him, why haven't they gotten me yet?'

The Doctor looked at the floor. 'I don't know. Maybe tinting your visor's making a difference.'

'It's making a difference all right.' Anita said bitterly. 'No-one's ever going to see my face again.'

Natasha walked closer as River went back to scanning. 'Don't talk like that, you need to have hope.' Although from what the Doctor said before…he had no way to remove the shadow and save Anita.

The Doctor looked back up to Anita's visor. 'Can I get you anything?'

Anita chuckled. 'An old age would be nice. Anything you can do?'

'I'm all over it.' He said confidently before turning away.

Anita stopped him though. 'Doctor... When we first met you, you didn't trust Professor Song. And then she whispered a word in your ear, and you did. My life so far... I could do with a word like that. What did she say?' The Doctor didn't say anything. 'Give a dead girl a break. Your secrets are safe with me.'

'Safe...' The Doctor murmured quietly.

'What?' Anita asked but he wasn't paying attention.

Natasha watched as a familiar 'eureka' expression appeared on this different Doctor's face.

'Safe. You don't say saved, nobody says saved, you say safe.' The Doctor twisted to look at Mr Lux. 'The data fragment! What did it say?'

"4,022 people saved. No survivors." Mr Lux recited looking confused as he did.

'Doctor?' River said as she stood again.

He wasn't paying attention though. 'Nobody says saved, nutters say saved, you say safe. But you see, it didn't mean safe, it meant... it literally meant... saved!' The Doctor ran his hands through his hair in excitement making it go all over the place.

The Doctor ran to the nearest terminal and quickly typed on the keyboard. Natasha and River went to look at the screen as well.

'See, there it is, right there!' He tapped the screen with a finger. 'A hundred years ago, massive power surge, all the teleports going at once. Soon as the Vashta Nerada hit their hatching cycle, they attack. Someone hits the alarm, the computer tries to teleport everyone out.'

'It tried to teleport 4,022 people?' River said sounding doubtful.

'Succeeded, pulled 'em all out, but then what? Nowhere to send them, nowhere safe in the whole Library, Vashta Nerada growing in every shadow. 4,022 people all beamed up and nowhere to go. They're stuck in the system, waiting to be sent, like emails. So what's a computer to do? What does a computer always do?'

Natasha started smiling as she caught onto what he was talking about.

River grinned as well. 'It saved them.'

The Doctor ran to a table and they followed. Grabbing a pen he drew a big circle with a smaller circle inside it. 'The Library, a whole world of books, and right at the core, the biggest hard drive in history. The index to everything ever written, backup copies of every single book. The computer saved 4,022 people the only way a computer can.' He drew an arrow pointing to the centre of the small circle. 'It saved them to the hard drive.'

All of a sudden a loud alarm went off.

Mr Lux came closer to them. 'What is it? What's wrong?'

Then a computerised voice came over the sound system. 'Autodestruct enabled in twenty minutes.'

Natasha winced as she got another picture in her head. It was of the girl they had seen before laying on a floor crying. Natasha realised the others were still clustered around the terminal.

'What's maximum erasure?' River asked the Doctor.

'Twenty minutes, this planet's gonna crack like an egg.'

Mr Lux shook his head. 'No! No, it's all right, the doctor moon will stop it. It's programmed to protect CAL.'

Suddenly the screen went blank making the Doctor.

'No, no, no, no, no, no, no!' He jumped on a table and used his sonic on the top of the terminal.

The computerised voice sounded again. 'All Library systems are permanently offline. Sorry for any inconvenience. Shortly...'

Mr Lux started to look panicked. 'We need to stop this, we've got to save CAL!'

The Doctor looked at him. 'What is it, what is CAL?'

'We need to get to the main computer, I'll show you.'

'It's at the core of the planet.' The Doctor said with a frown.

River smiled up at the Doctor. 'Well, then. Let's go!' She took hold of Natasha's arm and led her to the raised area in the middle of the room. River used her sonic on the area and it opened revealing a platform surrounded by a blue light. 'Gravity platform.'

Natasha grinned. 'Ooh, big sister you give the nicest presents! This is so cool!' Natasha stepped on without waiting for the others.

The Doctor walked over and looked at the platform. 'Oh I bet I like you.'

River grinned and joined Natasha. 'Oh you like both of us. You just haven't had as much of an effect on Nat yet.'

The Doctor, Anita and Mr Lux stepped onto the platform and started to quickly descend.

Natasha grinned at the Doctor. 'When I see you again I'm gonna remind you that _this_ is how you get somewhere quickly.'

The Doctor looked at her and gave her a slight smile back.

A few minutes later they arrived at the core and ran inside.

The computer gave an update of the countdown. 'Autodestruct in 15 minutes.'

The Doctor looked up at what appeared to be a ball of lightning. 'The Data Core! Over four thousand living minds, trapped inside it.'

River looked up as well. 'Yeah, well they won't be living much longer, we're running out of time.'

The Doctor ran down a corridor with the rest of them following.

All of a sudden a girl's voice sounded over the speakers. 'Help me. Please, help me.'

Anita looked around. 'What's that?'

River looked at Natasha. 'That was a child…wasn't it?'

Natasha nodded. 'What the hell is going on here?'

The Doctor was looking at the computer screen and tapping on the keyboard. 'Computer's in sleep mode. I can't wake it up. I'm trying.'

River was looking at another screen. 'Doctor, these readings!'

'I know, you'd think it was... dreaming.'

Mr Lux spoke up. 'It is dreaming...of a normal life, and a lovely Dad, and of every book ever written.'

Anita turned to look at him. 'Computers don't dream.'

The little girl called out for help again.

'No. But little girls do.' Mr Lux pushed a lever and another door opened. He led the way into the next room.

Inside was a node wearing the girl's face. 'Please help me. Please help me.'

Natasha walked up to the node. 'It's her, the girl I saw, the one from the computer.'

Mr Lux looked up at the node. 'She's not in the computer. In a way, she is the computer. The main command node. This is CAL.'

The Doctor looked outraged. 'CAL is a child! A child hooked up to a mainframe? Why didn't you tell me this? I needed to know this!'

Mr Lux shouted back at the Doctor. 'Because she's family!' He continued a little calmer. 'CAL... Charlotte Abigail Lux. My grandfather's youngest daughter. She was dying, so he built her a library, and put her living mind inside, with a moon to watch over her, and all of human history to pass the time, any era to live in, and any book to read. She loved books more than anything. He gave her them all. He asked only that she be left in peace. A secret, not a freak show.'

'So you weren't protecting a patent, you were protecting her.' The Doctor said softly.

Mr Lux came up next to Natasha and stroked the face on the node. 'This is only half a life, of course. But it's forever.'

'And then the shadows came.'

The node spoke again. 'Shadows. I have to... I have to save. Have to save...'

The Doctor looked from the node to the data core in astonishment. 'And she saved them. She saved everyone in the Library, folded them into her dreams and kept them safe.'

Natasha felt a brief surge in her head but it faded just as quickly as it came so she ignored it.

'Then why didn't she tell us?' Anita asked from her position near the door.

'Because she's forgotten. She's got over four thousand living minds chatting away inside her head, it must be like... '

Natasha smiled softly at the Doctor. 'Like being you.'

He nodded briefly.

'So what do we do?' River asked just as the computer counted down again.

'Autodestruct in ten minutes.'

The Doctor ran back to the first data room. 'Easy! We beam all the people out of the data core, the computer will reset and stop the countdown.' He checked a screen and rubbed his hair. 'Difficult, Charlotte doesn't have enough memory space left to make the transfer.' Then he ran to the wall and started pulling out cables. 'Easy! I'll hook myself up to the computer and she can borrow my memory space!'

Natasha ran over to him, followed by River. 'Like hell! It's too much, even for you!'

River was on his other side. 'It'll kill you stone dead!'

The Doctor just kept twisting wires together. 'Yeah, it's easy to criticise.'

River tried yanking on his arm but it made no difference. 'It'll burn out both your hearts and don't think you'll regenerate!'

Doctor smiled sarcastically at them. 'I'll try my hardest not to die. Honestly, it's my main thing.'

'Main thing?! It's dying and I _know_ you don't do it now!' Natasha shouted at him.

He used his sonic on some cables ignoring them both.

'Doctor!' River said trying again.

'I'm right and this works! Shut up.' They both stopped talking to listen. 'Now listen, you two and Luxy-boy, back up to the main Library. Prime any data cells you can find for maximum download, and before you say anything else, Professor, Natasha, can I just mention in passing as your air, shut up!'

River gasped in frustration. 'Oh! I hate you sometimes!'

The Doctor laughed and continued with his wiring. 'I know!'

River ran to the door. 'Mr Lux, with me! Anita, Natasha if he dies, I'll kill him!' River disappeared with Mr Lux and Natasha turned back to the Doctor.

Just as she was about to ask him something the emotions of the swarm flooded her mind again and she fell to her knees. The Doctor glanced at her but didn't seem surprised, or try to help her.

Behind her Anita spoke. 'What about the Vashta Nerada?'

'These are their forests. I'm gonna seal Charlotte inside her little world, take everybody else away. The shadows can swarm to their hearts content.'

Through her pain Natasha shifted to a sitting position and leaned against the terminal. She saw the Doctor keep running around as he talked.

'So you think they're just gonna let us go?'

'Best offer they're gonna get.' He yanked some more wires out and Natasha wondered what was making him so angry. Even through the pain of her headache she could hear the barely controlled anger in his voice.

'You're gonna make 'em an offer?' Anita asked him.

'They'd better take it, cos right now, I'm finding it very hard to make any kind of offer at all. You know what... ' He paused and looked at Anita briefly. 'I really liked Anita. She was brave, even when she was crying, and she never gave in. And you ate her.'

The Doctor pointed his sonic at the suit and the tint disappeared revealing the skeleton within it. Natasha gasped and clutched her head again the swarm's emotions got stronger.

The Doctor stopped and walked towards the suit. 'But I'm gonna let that pass. Just as long as you let them pass.'

The suit spoke again. 'How long have you known?'

'I counted the shadows. You only have one now.' The neural relay started blinking. 'She's nearly gone. Be kind.'

'These are our forests. We are not kind.' The swarm said.

'I'm giving you back your forests, but you are giving me them. You are letting them go.' The Doctor walked away from the suit.

'These are our forests. They are our meat.' Shadows started reaching out from the suit.

'Doctor…' Natasha said, forcing the word past her clenched lips. On top of the emotions from the Vashta Nerada Natasha was feeling something else in her head, it was like a whisper that she couldn't quite hear and it wasn't coming from the swarm.

The Doctor spun around again looking furious. 'Don't play games with me! You just killed someone I liked, that is not a safe place to stand. I'm the Doctor and you're in the biggest library in the universe. Look me up.'

When the Doctor said that Natasha heard the whisper in her head get louder, she still couldn't make out the words but something told her the words were important.

The shadows stopped expanding and after a moment they withdrew back to the suit. 'You have one day.' The suit collapsed and Natasha felt the emotions in her head disappear.

The Doctor helped her to her feet as River arrived and crouched next to Anita's remains.

'Anita!'

The Doctor did so more typing as he talked. 'I'm sorry, she's been dead a while now. I told you to go!'

'Lux can manage without me. But you can't.' River walked up to the Doctor and as he turned she knocked him out with one punch.

Natasha gaped as he fell to the floor and looked at River. 'River! What…'

River looked at her sadly. 'I'm sorry little sister.'

The last thing Natasha saw was River's fist swinging at her.

* * *

Natasha shifted and groaned when she heard someone shout.

'Oh, no, no, no, no, come on, what are you doing? That's my job!'

Natasha wrenched eyes open when she realised it was the Doctor. Jerking upright Natasha saw River sat in a chair twisting a couple of wires together. 'River if you do this I'll knock your teeth out the next time I see you!' Natasha screeched.

River laughed. 'Oh I know you will.'

The Doctor got to his knees beside her and yanked on his arm. 'Why am I handcuffed? Why do you even _have_ handcuffs?' Natasha realised her arm was cuffed as well.

River grinned at them. 'They're not mine, I got them from her.' She nodded at Natasha making the Doctor look at her.

'Why the hell do _I_ have handcuffs?' Natasha pulled on her arm trying break free.

Her friend just winked. 'I don't know, but I can guess.'

The Doctor started yelling at River again. 'This is not a joke, stop this now, this is gonna kill you! I'd have a chance, you don't have any.'

River yelled back at him. 'You wouldn't have a chance, and neither do I.'

Natasha felt tears start to fall down her face. 'River you can't! Stop it!'

River ignored them. 'I'm timing it for the end of the countdown there'll be a blip in the command flow. That way it should improve our chances of a clean download.'

Natasha yanked harder on her cuffs ignoring the pain.

The Doctor tried talking to her again. 'River! Please! No!'

'Funny thing is, this means you've always known how I was going to die.' River said to him before turning to Natasha. 'And you've known almost as long. All the times we've been together, the three of us, all of our adventures. The last time I saw you both, my versions of you I mean – you turned up on my doorstep, with a new haircut and a suit and it was one of the few times I had seen Nat in a dress. You took me to Darillium to see the singing towers. Oh, what a night that was! The towers sang and we all danced together and you both cried.'

The computer cut into the conversation. 'Autodestuct in one minute.'

Natasha yanked harder and harder on her cuffs, refusing to give up, but only succeeded in making them cut into her wrist.

River continued with her own tears scarcely held back. 'Neither of you would say why you were crying, but I suppose you knew it was time. My time. Time to come to the Library. Doctor, you even gave me your screwdriver - that should've been a clue.'

Natasha and the Doctor spotted the screwdriver and River's laid near them on top of River's Diary and tried to reach them. Natasha even tried hooking them with her foot but they were just beyond their reach.

River shook her head. 'There's nothing you can do.'

The Doctor yelled at her again. 'You can let me do this!'

'No, if you die here, it'll mean I've never met you.

Natasha sobbed. 'Timelines can be changed. I've _seen_ it! River _please_!'

'Not those times. Not one line! Don't you dare!' River glared at them fiercely. 'It's OK. It's OK, it's not over for you. You'll both see me again. You've got all of that to come.' River turned to Natasha. 'You, me and him, all of time and space. You watch us run little sister!' River let a tear fall but kept the determined glint in her eyes.

The Doctor spoke again, not shouting this time. 'River, you know my name!'

The Computer spoke in the background. 'Autodestruct in ten...'

'You whispered my name in my ear.' The Doctor continued.

'...nine, eight, seven...'

Natasha sobbed beside him but kept her eyes on her newly found sister still tugging on her wrist.

'There's only one reason I would ever tell anyone my name. There's only one time I could...'

River smiled through her tears. 'I never said _you_ told me your name.'

The Doctor stared at her and Natasha yanked desperately on her arm again.

'...three, two, one...'

As River plugged two cables together there was a blinding flash of light that made Natasha and the Doctor finally look away.

When the light faded Natasha kept herself turned away from the chair. She didn't need to see River like that.

As she sobbed she felt a hand on her arm. Looking up she saw the Doctor watching her with a dead look in her eyes. Natasha took his hand in hers. 'We _will_ see her again Doc, I promise.'

The Doctor nodded once but didn't say anything.

* * *

Later Natasha was walking around the Library when another pull led her towards a balcony. She stood there and waited and eventually heard the Doctor and Donna approach.

'It's that girl from before.' Donna said quite loudly.

Natasha turned with a grin. 'Yep, it's me.'

The Doctor stopped and frowned at her. 'Oh no. Please don't tell me you're stuck here or something?'

She shook her head and smiled at his dismayed expression. 'No I'm fine.' Natasha held up her wrist. 'Apparently you and me came up with the good idea of putting River's vortex manipulator on my wrist whenever she dragged me off. The coordinates have been pre-set to take me to where – or rather _when_ I need to be.'

The Doctor sighed in relief. 'Well that's good because I was starting to try and think of a way to get you somewhere my future self could pick you up.'

Natasha blinked at how complicated that plan would have been. 'Yeah…I'm not touching that one.' She turned to Donna. 'I wish we could have chatted more Donna, I think you and me would've gotten along great.'

'I was thinking that too. You seem like you'd be fun to travel with.' Donna grinned at her.

Natasha laughed when she saw the Doctor's face pale slightly. 'You okay there Doc?'

'I don't think the TARDIS could handle you two at the same time.'

'Oi!' Donna said swatting his arm.

Shaking her head Natasha decided it was time to go. 'Well I need to go back to my own timeline so…I'll see you in a minute Doc.'

Donna frowned. 'But didn't you say the Doctor didn't know you when you first met him?'

Natasha nodded. 'Yes which is why, he is going to try and forget all about me. Oh aside from one thing.'

'What's that?' He asked her.

'A couple of weeks ago I think you remembered this happening, but still, it took you _two weeks_ to remember me.' Natasha stepped closer to the Doctor with a frown. 'Two weeks Doc! Talk about dense. So when I get back I am going to give you a smack for it.'

'But I haven't done anything!' The Doctor said sounding a bit put out.

'Not yet.' Natasha dropped a quick kiss on his cheek. 'I'm looking forward to more adventures with her Doc, you should do the same.' With that she hit the button she need to and disappeared.

* * *

A second later she found herself back in the TARDIS. Forcing down the urge to throw up Natasha looked around. 'Er…Hello?'

Suddenly a head popped up the side of the console platform. 'Natasha!' Doctor said happily with a familiar goofy grin. 'Where did you go off to then?'

Natasha held up a hand as she felt her stomach roll again. By the time it had settled the Doctor had made it up the stairs to stand in front of her. 'First things first Doc, I am wearing the same clothes you last saw me in and how long have I been gone?'

The Doctor quickly took in her clothes. 'Yes you are and twenty eight hours – exactly. Why?'

Natasha was happy that she was back in the right spot if slightly late. She stepped forward and promptly slapped the Doctor across the back of the head.

'Ow! What was that for? Are you cross with me?'

Natasha dropped into one the seats next to the console. 'Where are Amy and Rory?'

'In bed, it's the middle of the night, sort of.' He came to stand in front of her. 'Why did you hit me?'

Natasha sighed and put her head in her hands. 'River took me to the Library.'

'Oh.'

'Yeah.'

There was silence for a moment and then the Doctor sat next to her and put a hand on her back. 'I'm sorry.'

'Yeah, me too.' Suddenly the Doctor pulled Natasha's left arm towards him and pushed the shirt sleeve up. 'Hey! What gives?'

'You're hurt.'

She looked at her wrist and realised she never even washed the blood off from where the handcuffs had cut into her skin. 'Oh, yeah, I forgot about that.' Natasha pulled her arm back. 'I'll have a bath a then dress it afterwards. It's not too bad. Hey, sorry I shouted at you by the way.'

'You were upset, I understood that.' The Doctor at curiously. 'I know you like River a lot but I always wondered…why did you fight so hard? I did as well but…'

She looked away from him towards the console. 'I…I was happy when she told us how close we were…er will be…whatever. Anyway it made me happy knowing that somewhere out there I still had, someone I can call family.' Natasha wiped a couple of tears from her cheeks. 'I've been alone for so long it was nice to have that again.' She leaned against him giving into her tiredness.

'You have Amy and Rory too, and you'll have River again.' He paused briefly. 'And you got me, that's not too shabby. At least I know why you hit me now.' Natasha chuckled. 'But I couldn't tell you what I remembered about you.'

Natasha shrugged. 'I know, wibbly wobbly, timey wimey stuff.'

'Exactly. On the plus side we know that you and River will always be friends. That's good…actually wait…' he got a worried look on his face and sat up straight. 'I don't think that is good for me. You two gang up on me.'

Natasha laughed again but it was broken by a huge yawn.

'Someone's tired.' The Doctor said with a chuckle.

'What do you expect? I basically spent the last few hours constantly running from shadows. Not to mention I got knocked out cold by my big sister.'

'So did I.'

Natasha nudged his side with her elbow. 'Yeah but you've had ages to recover numpty. Plus my stupid weirdness was going all over the place because of how many Vashta Nerada there were.' Natasha paused when she remembered something. 'At the end though I was getting something in my head other than the swarm. It was weird, well weirder than normal.'

The Doctor shifted to look down at her. 'What was it?'

'It was almost like…a whisper, it crept in while you were talking to the suit and when you mentioned looking things up in the books it got really loud but it still wasn't clear.'

He watched her for a moment before jumping up again. 'Well you'll figure it out eventually. Now, go have as bath and then bed. Big day tomorrow.'

Natasha stood up as she laughed and walked up the stairs towards the bedrooms. 'It's always a big day Doc, we skip the little ones.' She heard him laugh behind her as she walked away. The sound of it helped ease her sadness. Natasha pushed away her regret over River's death and focused on the fact that she _would_ see her again. Until then Natasha decided she would draw a portrait of River one that showed how much mischief the woman held in her eyes. One that showed the promise of adventures to come.

* * *

_Author Note - Once again, apologies for my tardiness. Let me know what you think. This chapter hasn't been beta'd as my lovely Beta is looking after her new baby. So shout out to Ava Demski!_


	5. Lady's Choice

_Author Note – Hah! Finally got this episode finished! Now for the next one…_

* * *

_**Things need not have happened to be true. Tales and dreams are the shadow-truths that will endure when mere facts are dust and ashes, and forgot. **__**― Neil Gaiman**_

* * *

Natasha ran down from the console in excitement and quickly opened the door, eager to see where they were. She looked down and sighed. 'Doctor you landed on someone's flowers.'

'What?' He appeared at her shoulder and looked down as well. 'Oh.'

Natasha shook her head and carefully got off the flower bed as Rory came out the door of the cottage the garden belonged to. 'Rory!' She hugged Rory happily. 'Please don't blame me for the flowers, he parked.' It looked like they'd landed in their friend's garden again.

Rory looked at the crushed flowers with slight fear and then looked at the Doctor. 'Oh Amy will kill you.'

The Doctor looked around expectantly. 'Where is she?'

Rory glanced behind himself. 'She'll need a bit longer.'

'Whenever you're ready, Amy.' The Doctor called out towards the cottage.

Natasha looked as Amy appeared and then squealed ecstatically. 'Oh my god Amy! You're pregnant!' She went over and hugged her friend happily. 'Congratulations!'

The Doctor hugged Amy and then looked at her. 'Hello Pond. You've swallowed a planet by the way.'

'I'm pregnant.' Amy told him with a smile.

'You're huge.'

'Yeah, I'm pregnant.'

'Look at you. When – '

Natasha put her hand over his mouth. 'Think this through to the end Doctor and _then_ speak.'

He nodded and she moved her hand. After a moment of silence he looked at Amy again. 'Are you pregnant?'

Amy and Natasha just looked at each other and laughed.

Natasha linked her arm through the Doctor's. 'I have tried to teach him some manners Amy, but you can see how well that went.'

'Come on let's get our coats and go for a walk.' Amy said taking hold of Rory's arm and pulling him inside.

Natasha turned back to the Doctor with a smile and put her arms around his neck. 'You really need to think before you speak Doc. Amy was getting ready to thump you.'

The Doctor grinned at her and put his arms around her waist. 'Never mind that Natasha. When do you want to tell them _our_ news? You said _you_ got to decide.' He took her left hand in his and Natasha smiled down at their rings. Time Lords didn't use rings but the Doctor had got them for her.

Natasha grinned at his enthusiasm. 'I'm surprised you didn't just blurt out the fact that we're married.'

'You're what?'

Natasha and the Doctor turned to find Amy and Rory staring at them.

* * *

'Ah, Leadworth. Vibrant as ever.' The Doctor said as they walked through the village.

Rory smiled happily. 'It's Upper Leadworth, actually. We've gone slightly upmarket.'

'It's nice and peaceful here,' Natasha said as she looked around. 'Haven't had much of that with this lug around.'

'Oi!' The Doctor said bopping her nose. 'Anyway, where is everyone?'

'This is busy.' Amy said before stopping when they looked at her. 'Okay, it's quiet, but it's really restful and healthy. Loads of people here live well into their nineties.'

They walked past a row of cottages where an old woman twitched at her nets to watch them.

'Well, don't let that get you down.' The Doctor said as they sat on a bench.

'It's not getting me down.' Amy said as tried to sit comfortably.

'Well, I wanted to see how you were. You know me, I don't just abandon people when they leave the TARDIS. This Time Lord's for life. You don't get rid of your old pal the Doctor so easily.'

Amy looked at Natasha who was stood in front of them. 'It was an accident wasn't it?'

Natasha laughed and nodded. 'Yep, we take it in turns. Guess who was driving this time?'

The Doctor wagged his finger at Natasha. 'But look, what a result. Look at this bench. What a nice bench. What will they think of next?' Everyone was quiet for a moment. 'So. What do you do around here to stave off the, you know…'

'Boredom?' Amy asked at the same time the Doctor said 'self harm'.

'We relax.' Rory said calmly and the Doctor mouthed the word to Natasha. 'We live. We listen to the birds.'

'Yeah, see? Birds. Those are nice.' Amy said sounding far from convinced.

Natasha looked around at the very…quiet village. 'It is nice. Not much time to relax on the TARDIS I suppose.'

The Bird song seemed to get a lot louder and Natasha felt her head spin slightly.

The Doctor also clutched his head. 'Oh blimey, my head's a bit. Ooo. Er, no, you're right, there wasn't a lot of time for birdsong back in the good…old…'

Natasha felt herself fall as she fell asleep.

* * *

Only to wake a moment later, laid out under the staircase.

'Days.' The Doctor said from the console as he stood up. 'What? No, yes, sorry, what? Oh, you're okay. Oh, thank God.' Natasha got up and went over to the others. 'I had a terrible nightmare about you two.' He pointed at Amy and Rory. 'That was scary. Don't ask. You don't want to know. You're safe now.' He hugged Amy.

Natasha shrugged off his weirdness. 'I fell asleep too, but I had quite a nice dream.' She blushed slightly as she remembered being married to the Doctor.

The Doctor looked at her briefly and smiled before shaking his head and turning to the console. 'Never dropped off like that before. Well, never, really. I'm getting on a bit, you see. Don't let the cool gear fool you. Now, what's wrong with the console? Red flashing lights. I bet they mean something.' He dropped to the floor to look under the console.

Rory looked confused. 'Er, Doctor, I also had a kind of dream thing.'

'Yeah, so did I.' Amy said with a frown.

'Not a nightmare, though,' Rory told her with a smile. 'Just, er, we were married.'

'Yeah. In a little village.' Amy said looking at him.

Natasha was frowning now as well. 'And Amy was pregnant.'

Amy nodded. 'Yes, I was huge. I was a boat.'

The Doctor came up behind Rory and looked at the back of his head.

Rory was now facing Amy. 'So you had the same dream, then? Exactly the same dream?'

'Are you calling me a boat?' Amy asked with a glare.

Rory did what any smart man would and deflected. 'Natasha, Doctor, you two were visiting.'

Natasha nodded and poked Amy's stomach. 'Uh huh, we crushed your…flowers.' Amy knocked her hand away but then touched her flat stomach herself.

'How can we have the same dream?' Rory asked the Doctor. 'It doesn't make any sense.'

Amy looked at the Doctor. 'And you had a nightmare about us. What happened to us in the nightmare?'

'It was a bit similar, in some aspects.' The Doctor said uneasily.

'Which aspects?' Rory asked him.

'Erm…well, all of them.'

Natasha felt her face fall but quickly covered it. 'Oh, so…the same dream then…'

Amy looked at Natasha. 'You. You and the Doctor were married.' Natasha nodded as Amy turned to the Doctor. 'You said it was a nightmare.'

The Doctor winced. 'Did I say nightmare? No, more of a really good…mare.' He glanced at Natasha before changing the subject. 'Look, it doesn't matter. We all had some kind of psychic episode. We probably jumped a time track or something. Forget it. We're back to reality now.'

Natasha, Amy and Rory all looked around when they started hearing the same bird song again.

'Doctor?' Amy said urgently. 'If we're back to reality, how come I can still hear birds?'

'Yeah, the same birds.' Rory said carefully. 'The same ones we heard in the – '

* * *

Natasha opened her eyes to find herself laid on the ground.

' – dream. Oh! Sorry.' Rory quickly lifted his head from the Doctor's shoulder. 'Nodded off. Stupid. God, I must be overdoing it. I was dreaming we were back on the TARDIS.'

Natasha quickly stood and looked around. She went over to a nearby fence and touched it trying to get a picture from it. 'Doctor I can't get anything. No pushes, no pictures, nothing.'

'Doctor, what is going on?' Rory asked as he and Amy stood up.

Amy put a hand on her belly as she waddled. 'Is this because of you? Is this some Time Lordy thing because you've shown up again?'

The Doctor turned in a circle as he spoke to them. 'Listen to me. Trust nothing. From now on, trust nothing you see, hear or feel.'

'But we're awake now.' Rory said as he looked around.

'Yeah. You thought you were awake on the TARDIS, too.'

'But we're home.' Amy said obviously, and understandably, confused.

'Yeah, you're home. You're also dreaming. Trouble is, Rory, Amy, which is which?' The Doctor turned to look down the empty street. 'Are we flashing forwards or backwards? Hold on tight. This is going be a tricky one.'

Natasha scrunched her nose up. 'Tricky? It's not tricky it's – '

* * *

' – impossible.' Natasha opened her eyes and she was back on the TARDIS sprawled on the floor. 'Oh that's going to get old _real_ quick.'

'I second that.' Amy said from one of the seats.

The Doctor started fiddling with the TARDIS console which had more flashing red lights. 'Oh, this is bad. I don't like this.' He took a step back and kicked the console before yelping and holding his leg. 'Argh. Never use force. You just embarrass yourself. Unless you're cross, in which case, always use force.'

'Shall I run and get the manual?' Amy asked the Doctor as he hobbled downstairs.

'I threw it in a supernova.'

Natasha rolled her eyes and watched him through the clear floor. 'Of course you did. I bet you disagreed with it, didn't you?'

'Of course I did, it was wrong.' He shook a finger up at her. 'Stop talking to me when I'm cross.'

'Okay, but whatever's wrong with the TARDIS,' Rory pointed at the console, 'is that what caused us to dream about the future?'

'If we were dreaming of the future.' The Doctor said from underneath them.

Amy rolled her eyes. 'Well, of course we were. We were in Leadworth.'

Natasha scoffed. 'No offense but since the Doctor thought that _our_ future was a nightmare…no thanks to that.' She turned away to sit on a chair and folded her arms.

The Doctor came back up the stairs. 'Natasha…'

She shook her head. 'It's fine Doctor, just…we _could_ be in Leadworth dreaming of this though couldn't we? And vice versa?' The Doctor nodded and kept looking at her.

'No, okay?' Amy said adamantly. 'No, this is real. I'm definitely awake now.'

'And you thought you were definitely awake when you were all elephanty.' The Doctor turned and made an exaggerated 'fat' gesture.

'Hey.' Amy pointed at him with a spanner. 'Pregnant.'

'And you could be giving birth right now. This could be the dream. I told you. Trust nothing we see or hear or feel. Look around you. Examine everything. Look for all the details that don't ring true.'

Natasha laughed. 'Seriously? We're in a bigger-on-the-inside spaceship.'

'With a bow tie-wearing alien.' Amy injected with a smile.

'So maybe,' Rory finished, 'what 'rings true' isn't so simple.'

The Doctor looked at them all for a moment. 'Valid point.'

Suddenly all the lights in the TARDIS shut off leaving them in just the glow of the time rotor.

Natasha swallowed nervously. 'Doctor, please tell me you did that.'

'No.' He replied quietly. 'It's dead. We're in a dead time machine.'

The bird started singing again and Rory went over to Amy and they hugged.

'Remember, this is real.' The Doctor said to them urgently. 'But when we wake up in the other place, remember how real this feels.'

'It is real. I know it's real.' Amy said as she held Rory.

* * *

Natasha opened her and quickly stood up. 'Okay, now I'm annoyed.' She glanced at the ring on her finger and scowled.

On a nearby bench Amy was looking around. 'Okay, this is the real one. Definitely this one. It's all solid.' She felt her baby belly carefully.

The Doctor was just looking around. 'It felt solid in the TARDIS too. You can't spot a dream while you're having it.' He started waving his hand in front of his face.

Rory helped Amy up and they went to him. 'What are you doing?'

'Looking for motion blur, pixilation. It could be a computer simulation. I don't think so, though.'

Natasha shook her head. 'It seems too…involved for a simulation. Drugs?'

Just then an old lady passed by and smiled at Rory. 'Hello, Doctor.'

The Doctor and Rory both said hi, making the Doctor look at Rory.

'You're a doctor.'

'Yeah. And unlike you,' Rory pointed at the Doctor. 'I've actually passed some exams.'

'A doctor, not a nurse. Just like you've always dreamed.' The Doctor took hold of Natasha's hand and started walking. 'How interesting.' Natasha considered shaking out of the Doctor's grip but decided not to since they were married here. If this was the real one at any rate.

'What is?' Rory asked as he and Amy followed behind.

'Your dream wife, your dream job, probably your dream baby. Maybe this is your dream.' The Doctor stopped walking and turned to look at the pony tailed man.

Natasha shook her head. 'That doesn't make sense though because we're thinking independently and I can…er…' she paused and blushed slightly. 'Well I can remember getting married. Why would Rory think that up?'

The Doctor looked at her. 'I remember it too.'

Rory chuckled. 'It's Amy's dream too. Isn't it, Amy?'

Amy laughed. 'Yes. Course it is, yeah.' Natasha thought she didn't sound sure.

'What's that?' The Doctor asked pointing his thumb at the building over his shoulder.

'Old people's home.' Amy said glancing at it.

'You said everyone here lives to their nineties. There's something here that doesn't make sense. Let's go and poke it with a stick.' The Doctor ran forward still holding Natasha's hand. He glanced at her as they went inside. 'Are you still not getting anything?'

Natasha shook her head. 'No…which makes me think this isn't real. As much as I would love to be rid of this _gift_. My 'memories' though say that I've got complete control over it, but if that's the case why didn't it work before?'

'Maybe because everything is fine.' The Doctor said with a smile.

As they reached a large lounge room Rory and, eventually, Amy caught up to them.

A couple of the old women greeted Rory and he went over to one of them. 'Hello, Mrs Poggit. How's your hip?'

'A bit stiff.'

'Oh, easy, D-96 compound, plus – ' the Doctor stopped suddenly. 'No, you don't have that yet. Forget that.'

Mrs Poggit looked at the Doctor and then spoke to Rory. 'Who's your friend? A junior doctor?'

Rory seemed to take pleasure in in his reply. 'Yes.'

'Can I borrow you?' Mrs Poggit asked the Doctor. 'You're the size of my grandson.'

The Doctor knelt in front of Mrs Poggit and she pulled the half knit jumper over his head. 'Slightly keen to move on. Freak psychic schism to sort out.' He leaned right into her face. 'You're incredibly old, aren't you?'

Natasha shook her head and pulled on his shoulder. 'You'll have to forgive my husband, he tends to be – '

* * *

' – a bit rude.' Natasha dropped her head back on the seat. 'Oh for crying out loud.'

'Okay, I hate this, Doctor. Stop it, because this is definitely real. It's definitely this one.' Amy turned to Rory. 'I keep saying that, don't I?'

Rory nodded and then rubbed his arms. 'It's bloody cold.'

Natasha shivered and looked around. 'Also where's the light coming from? I thought we were dead in the water.'

'The heating's off.' The Doctor said from the balcony above them. 'And yes we are.'

'The heating's off?' Rory asked.

'Yeah. Put on a jumper. That's what I always do.'

Rory chuckled. 'Er, yes. Sorry about Mrs Poggit. She's so lovely though.'

'I wouldn't believe her nice old lady act if I were you.'

Natasha tilted her head back to look at the Doctor upside down. 'You've figured something out haven't you? Since being ma – ' She broke off suddenly and realised she was also rubbing the finger where the wedding ring should be. 'This is so confusing.'

'Everything's off. Sensors, core power.' The Doctor stood and disappeared to come down the stairs again. 'We're drifting. The scanner's down so we can't even see out. We could be anywhere. Someone, something, is overriding my controls.' He ended up almost shouting.

Natasha clutched her head as she felt a massive push of loathing and dark amusement flood her head.

'Well, that took a while. Honestly, I'd heard such good things. Last of the Time Lords, the Oncoming Storm. Him in the bow tie.' Through the haze of pain, Natasha could just make out a short bald man that was dressed in a similar way to the Doctor.

'How did you get into my TARDIS?' The Doctor asked coolly. 'What are you?'

'What shall we call me? Well, if you're the Time Lord, let's call me the Dream Lord.'

'Nice look.'

Natasha tried to focus. 'Doctor, I can feel him.'

The Doctor glanced at her and then threw his screwdriver through the Dream Lord. 'Interesting.'

The Dream Lord smirked at the Doctor. 'I'd love to be impressed, but Dream Lord. It's in the name, isn't it? Spooky. Not quite there.'

He suddenly appeared right next Natasha making her yelp in surprise and fall from her seat, and because she was clutching her head Natasha landed with a thump on the floor.

'And yet, very much here.' The Dream Lord said with another smirk.

'I'll do the talking, thank you.' The Doctor came and helped Natasha to her feet. 'Amy, want to take a guess at what _that_ is?' Surprisingly he kept an arm around Natasha.

'Er, Dream Lord. He creates dreams.'

'Dreams, delusions, cheap tricks.'

The Dream Lord looked at Rory. 'And what about the gooseberry, here. Does he get a guess?'

Rory took exception to that. 'Er, listen, mate. If anyone's the gooseberry round here, it's the Doctor.'

The Dream Lord got a smarmy but exasperated look on his face. 'Well now, there's a delusion I'm not responsible for.'

'No, he is. Isn't he, Amy?' Rory looked to Amy for confirmation making the Dream Lord turn to the red head again.

'Oh, Amy, have to sort your men out. Choose, even.'

Natasha really didn't like the sound of that. There was a catch to everything, especially choices.

'I have chosen. Of course I've chosen.' Amy paused briefly and then reached out to hit Rory. 'It's you, stupid.'

'Oh, good. Thanks.' Rory seemed overly relieved at that bit of information.

The Dream Lord disappeared and popped in behind them again. The Doctor turned, keeping Natasha in his arms as he did.

'You can't fool me. I've seen your dreams.' The Dream Lord was still focusing on Amy. 'Some of them twice, Amy. Blimey, I'd blush if I had a blood supply or a real face.'

Natasha pushed aside her pain. 'Leave her alone.'

The Dream Lord looked at her with a smirk. 'And you, you're only here because _he_ took a wrong turn on the way to the Moon.' Natasha flinched but kept quiet. 'The little add-in – the afterthought – stuck into the story like a piece of the jigsaw that won't fit.'

Natasha looked away and fought off her tears. That thought had plagued her dreams since she had begun travelling with the Doctor. He'd even said himself that he'd been aiming for the Moon.

The Doctor squeezed her shoulder as he started talking again. 'Where did you pick up this cheap cabaret act?'

The Dream Lord lifted an eyebrow at the Doctor. 'Me? Oh, you're on shaky ground.'

'Am I?'

'If you had any more tawdry quirks you could open up a Tawdry Quirk Shop. The madcap vehicle, the cockamamie hair, the clothes designed by a first-year fashion student…' the Dream Lord was really getting into his rant. 'I'm surprised you haven't got a little purple space dog just to ram home what an intergalactic wag you are.' He smirked at the Doctor before looking off across the room. 'Where was I?'

'Erm…you were – '

The Dream Lord popped onto the area above the console room. 'I know where I was. So, here's your challenge. Two worlds. Here, in the time machine, and there, in the village that time forgot. One is real, the other's fake. And just to make it more interesting, you're going to face in both worlds a deadly danger, but only one of the dangers is real. Tweet, tweet. Time to sleep.'

Natasha felt the Doctor's arm slip off her as she felt tiredness pull at her eyes and heard birdsong fill the air.

'Oh. Or are you waking up?'

* * *

Natasha opened her eyes and found herself on the floor of the care home lounge. As they all got to their feet the Dream Lord strode in examining an x-ray.

'Oh, this is bad. This is very, very bad. Look at this X-ray. Your brain is completely see-through. But then, I've always been able to see through you, Doctor.'

Amy jumped on that bit of information. 'Always? What do you mean, always?'

The Dream Lord ignored her question. 'Now then, the prognosis is this. If you die in the dream, you wake up in reality. Healthy recovery in next to no time. Ask me what happens if you die in reality?'

Rory took the bait before Natasha could say anything. 'What happens?'

'You die, stupid. That's why it's called reality.'

'Have you met the Doctor before? Do you know him?' Amy looked from the Dream Lord to the Doctor. 'Doctor, does he?'

Natasha moved to Amy's side. 'Amy, the Doctor's over nine hundred years old, he's met a lot of people.'

The Dream Lord smiled slyly at the two of them. 'Now don't get jealous. He's been around, our boy.' He addressed Natasha. 'Did you know he travelled with his granddaughter at one point? Course if you have a granddaughter – means you had something before that.'

Natasha froze at that information. The Doctor had never mentioned that, she knew he didn't talk about a lot of things, but…that was surely something worth mentioning before they got married. Natasha glanced at the Doctor as the Dream Lord turned to him.

'But never mind that. You've got a world to choose. One reality was always too much for you, Doctor. Take two and call me in the morning.' The Dream Lord vanished leaving them alone.

Rory pointed at the spot where the Dream Lord had been. 'Okay, I don't like him.'

'Who is he?' Amy said folding her arms.

The Doctor looked around the empty room making Natasha wonder if he was avoiding her gaze. 'I don't know. It's a big universe.'

'Why is he doing this?' Natasha asked quietly making the Doctor glance at her for barely a second before he looked away again. Yeah, he was definitely not looking at her on purpose.

'Maybe because he has no physical form. That gets you down after a while, so he's taking it out on folk like us who can touch and eat and feel.'

Rory was either ignoring, or was oblivious to the tension in the room. 'What does he mean, deadly danger, though? Nothing deadly has happened here. I mean, a bit of natural wastage, obviously.'

The Doctor was back in his jacket. 'They've all gone. They've all gone.'

He dashed out of the room with Natasha right behind him. 'You _just_ noticed that? We were in there ages.'

Outside the Doctor suddenly stopped and Natasha ran into the back off him nearly falling over. The Doctor grabbed her arm and Natasha smiled at him gratefully before she remembered what the Dream Lord had revealed and pulled back from him.

The Doctor turned and looked at the playground and castle ruin opposite the care home. Rory and Amy came out of the building behind them. Rory was obviously in the lead.

'Why would they leave?' Rory said, referring to the old people.

'And what did you mean about Mrs Poggit's nice old lady act?' Amy asked as she waddled out the door.

The Doctor who had started leading the way across the road stopped to look at them all. 'One of my tawdry quirks. Sniffing out things that aren't what they seem.' He went into his full steam ahead mode. 'So, come on, let's think. The mechanics of this reality split we're stuck in. Time asleep exactly matches time in our dream world, unlike in conventional dreams.'

'And we're all dreaming the same dream at the same time.' Rory said watching the Doctor.

Natasha looked around the area. 'And we wake up in the exact spot we fall asleep in, we don't move.'

'Yes, sort of communal trance. Very rare, very complicated. I'm sure there's a dream giveaway, a tell, but my mind isn't working because this village…' the Doctor started shouting, '…is so dull!' He went back to a normal volume. 'I'm slowing down, like you two have.'

Amy suddenly clutched her stomach. 'Ooo. Ow. Really. Ow! It's coming.

As Rory and the Doctor started panicking Amy winked at Natasha, who held back a laugh.

'Okay, you're a doctor, help her.'

'You're a doctor.'

'It's okay, we're doctors.' The Doctor squatted down as though to 'catch' the baby.

'What do we do?'

Amy dropped the act and straightened up. 'Okay, it's not coming.'

'What?' The Doctor was very confused, which Natasha had to admit gave her a bit of pleasure.

The angry, pregnant red head leaned into close to the Doctor. 'This is my life now and it just turned you white as a sheet, so don't you call it dull again, ever. Okay?'

'Sorry.' The Doctor said very quietly.

'Yeah.' Amy walked around him towards Natasha who grinned.

'That was hilarious. If this ends up being fake we'll have to remember that one.'

The two women laughed as they walked towards the swings and sat on them. Rory stood behind Amy and Natasha felt the Doctor hesitantly do the same behind her.

The Doctor cleared his throat and began talking. 'Now, we all know there's an elephant in the room.'

Amy glared at him. 'I have to be this size, I'm having a baby.'

'No, no. The hormones seem real, but no.' The Doctor sounded slightly scared. 'Is nobody going to mention Rory's ponytail?' Amy gave a slight smile. 'You hold him down, I'll cut it off?'

Natasha laughed. 'I'll help you Doctor. Sorry Rory.' She leaned back into the Doctor to look at Rory.

Rory rolled his eyes at them. 'This from the man in the bow tie and the woman that married him.'

The Doctor spoke the same time as Natasha. 'Bow ties are cool.' They looked at each other and Natasha gave him a little smile. Whatever his reasons, she knew he'd have good ones for not telling her about his granddaughter…and what came before.

The Doctor's smile brightened before he turned serious again and took a few steps towards the ruin where Mrs Poggit was. 'I don't know about you, but I wouldn't hire Mrs Poggit as a babysitter.' The old woman in question turned and looked at them. 'What's she doing? What does she want?'

The same loud birdsong filled the air again.

'Oh, no.' Amy said fearfully. 'Here we go.'

As they fell asleep Natasha felt the Doctor's hand take hold of hers.

* * *

Natasha came round in the TARDIS and immediately started shivering. Yet again she was on the floor. 'This floor is not at all comfortable.' She said as she got to her feet.

Amy approached from the other side of the console. 'It's really cold. Have you got any warm clothing?'

The Doctor turned away from the console towards Amy and Rory. 'What does it matter if we're cold? We have to know what she is up to.' Natasha went to him and put a hand on his arm, making him rub his face. 'Sorry, sorry. There should be some stuff down there. Have a look.'

As Amy and Rory walked off Natasha turned to the Doctor. 'Calm down Doc, you'll think clearer when you're calm.' The Doctor flashed her a smile and rubbed her arms briefly before disappearing under the console.

Natasha watched through the floor as he looked in a toolbox wishing, not for the first time, that her taste in clothing ran to something warmer than silk shirts and waistcoats.

As the Doctor jumped back up to the console with a strange put-together object in his hands, Amy came back with Rory and a bundle of blankets.

Natasha smiled gratefully. 'Oh thank you Amy Pond.' She took a blanket and wrapped it around herself in a way that would hopefully stay put if she fell to the floor again.

The Doctor in the meantime had given Rory the dookickey and asked Amy to attach it to the monitor.

Rory looked at it. 'I was promised amazing worlds. Instead I get duff central heating and a weird, kitcheny wind-up device.'

Natasha laughed. 'Yeah well, we got whale vomit – beat that.' Rory chuckled and nodded.

The Doctor danced around the console. 'It's a generator. Get winding.' He hit a few seemingly random buttons.

Amy tapped the screen. 'Not enough.'

'Rory, wind.' The Doctor said loudly, hitting more buttons.

'Why is the Dream Lord picking on you?' Rory asked as he spun it the whisk faster. 'Why us?'

The scanner screen suddenly came to life.

Natasha walked away from the console and towards the door listening to the others as she went.

'Where are we?'

'We're in trouble.'

'What is that?'

'A star. A cold star.'

As the Doctor ran towards her Natasha opened the doors to the TARDIS gasping as the cold washed over her. 'Well, I'm guessing that's our 'deadly danger' for this reality.'

'That's why we're freezing. It's not a heating malfunction. We're drifting towards a cold sun.' The Doctor slammed the doors shut again.

Natasha rolled her eyes at him. '_Really_? It's a _cold_ sun? I would never have guessed.' The Doctor just lightly bopped her on the nose.

'So this must be the dream.' Amy said as they went back to the console. 'There's no such thing as a cold star. Stars burn.'

'So's this one. It's just burning cold.' The Doctor rubbed his arms as he moved around.

'Is that possible?' Rory asked sceptically.

'I can't know everything. Why does everybody expect me to, always?' The Doctor dropped onto a seat and Natasha threw a blanket at him.

'So it's possible that this isn't real.' Natasha said slowly. 'But it's also possible you just haven't seen a cold star before?'

The Doctor nodded. 'That about sums it up, but there's no way to know, and I'd say we've got about fourteen minutes until we crash into it. But that's not a problem.'

Rory looked hopeful. 'Because you know how to get us out of this?'

'Because we'll have frozen to death by then.'

Amy rubbed her arms frantically. 'Oh, then what are we going to do?'

The Doctor got out a stethoscope and used it on the console. 'Stay calm. Don't get sucked in to it, because this just might be the battle that we have to lose.'

Rory used a highly sarcastic tone as he stood next to the Doctor. 'Oh, this is so _you_, isn't it?'

The Doctor looked up in confusion. 'What?'

'Huh, what?' Rory seemed surprised at the Doctor's confusion. 'A weird new star, fourteen minutes left to live and only one man to save the day, huh? I just wanted a nice village and a family.'

Amy and Natasha exchanged exasperated looks. Just then Natasha clutched her head as a sneering voice sounded again.

'Oh dear, Doctor. Dissent in the ranks.' The Dream Lord had appeared behind the Doctor. 'There was an old doctor from Gallifrey, who ended up throwing his life away. He let down his friends and – ' the Dream Lord broke off as the birdsong started once more. 'Oh, no. We've run out of time. Don't spend too long there, or you'll catch your death here.'

Natasha just managed to get to a seat as she fell asleep…or woke up.

* * *

Opening her eyes Natasha found that she had slid off the swing and into the mud. 'Lovely. Well I hope this is fake otherwise this'll be a nightmare to clean.' She got up and saw Rory help Amy. The Doctor was already heading up the nearby steps that led to the castle ruins.

The three of them ran, or in Amy's case waddled, to catch up with him.

'Where have the children gone?' The Doctor asked no one in particular as he ran to sonic some piles of dust.

'Don't know.' Rory said with a shrug. 'Play time's probably over.'

Natasha followed the Doctor not listening to the couple behind them. 'Please tell me that those piles of dust are…fire place ashes or something.' She didn't want to think of how this was the last place they had seen the children. 'Hell right now I'd settle for the earthly remains of Fido over where my brain's going.'

The Doctor gave a slight shake of his head but didn't answer.

Amy waddled over to them. 'Doctor, what are you doing? And what are those piles of dust?'

Natasha felt tears pricking her eyes. 'It's not just dust Amy.'

The Doctor came and put an arm around her. 'Play time's definitely over.' Natasha tucked her head into the Doctor's chest.

'Oh, my God.' Amy said sounding horrified.

'What happened to them?'

The Doctor moved forward slightly. 'I think they did.'

Natasha looked up and saw a group of old people on the other side of the playground.

Amy scoffed lightly. 'They're just old people.'

'No, they're very old people.' The Doctor moved his arm to take hold of Natasha's hand. 'Sorry, Rory, I don't think you're what's been keeping them alive.' He lead the way down the steps again and towards the playground.

Natasha glanced up at him. 'Is it such a good idea to be walking _towards_ the potential killers.'

The Doctor didn't reply because just then the Dream Lord appeared ahead of them. 'Hello, peasants. What's this, attack of the old people? Oh, that's ridiculous.' He turned to look at them as they stopped next to him. Natasha began rubbing her temple again. 'This has got to be the dream, hasn't it? What do you think, Amy? Let's all jump under a bus and wake up in the TARDIS. You first or maybe Miss Migraine here.'

The Doctor all but growled at him. 'Leave them alone.'

The Dream Lord watched the Doctor. 'Do that again. I love it when he does that. Tall dark hero. 'Leave them alone'.'

Rory stepped forward slightly next to Amy. 'Just leave them.'

The Dream Lord looked at Rory. 'Yes, you're not quite so impressive, but I know where your heart lies, don't I, Amy Pond?'

'Shut up.' Amy said as he walked towards her. 'Just shut up and leave me alone.'

'But listen. You're in there.' The Dream Lord tilted his head towards the Doctor. 'Loves a redhead, the Doctor. Has he told you about Elizabeth the First? Well, she _thought_ she was the first.'

'Drop it. Drop all of it.' The Doctor interrupted quickly. 'I know who you are.'

The Dream Lord looked back calmly. 'Course you don't.'

'Course I do. No idea how you can be here, but there's only one person in the universe who hates me as much as you do.'

Natasha looked up at the Doctor and saw a very slight smile on his face. It gave her a little bit of hope until she turned and saw a similar smile on the Dream Lord's face.

'Never mind me. Maybe you _should_ worry about them.'

The four of them turned to find the old people still walking towards them.

'Hi. Hello.' Rory said nervously as the old got closer.

'Hello, we were wondering where you went.' The Doctor said to Mrs Poggit. 'To get reinforcements, by the look of it. Are you all right? You look a bit tense.'

One old man walks closer than the rest and Rory smiles at him. 'Hello, Mister Nainby.'

Natasha shook her head. 'Rory I don't think you should – '

He just ignored her concern. 'Mister Nainby ran the sweet shop. He used to slip me the odd free toffee.' Mr Nainby grabbed Rory by the collar and lifted him off his feet. 'Did I not say thank you?'

Mr Nainby threw Rory backwards about twenty feet to land in the mud near the swings.

Rory was astonished. 'How did he do that?' He yelled as he got to his feet and came back over.

'I suspect he's not himself.' The Doctor said starting to get nervous. 'Don't get comfortable here. You may have to run, fast.'

Amy patter her swollen stomach. 'Can't we just talk to them?'

The old people all opened their mouths and showed an eye peeping out at them.

Natasha cleared her throat nervously. 'I don't think that will work Amy.'

The Doctor scanned Mrs Poggit with his sonic. 'There's a whole creature inside her. Inside all of them. They've been there for years, living and waiting.'

Rory was looking mildly repulsed. 'That is disgusting. They're not going to be peeping out of anywhere else, are they?'

Natasha hit Rory's arm. 'Did not need _that_ mental picture thank you!'

Suddenly Mrs Poggit breathed a stream a of green gas at them.

The Doctor waved at Amy and Rory. 'Run.' Natasha didn't move. 'You too Natasha.'

Natasha just scoffed. 'Er…no. I'm sticking with you.'

The Doctor looked at her briefly but seemed to give up when he saw her stubborn expression. 'Okay, leave them, leave them. Talk to me. Talk to me. You are Eknodines. A proud, ancient race. you're better than this.'

Natasha glanced behind them and saw that Amy and Rory were quite a distance away now.

'Why are you hiding away here?' The Doctor continued. 'Why aren't you at home?'

'We were driven from our planet by – ' Mrs Poggit started.

The Doctor interrupted. 'Planet by upstart neighbours.'

Mr Nainby began. 'So we've – '

Natasha butted in this time. 'Been living here inside the bodies of old humans for years. Blimey, no wonder their so old, ultimate health insurance.'

'We were humbled and destroyed.' Mrs Poggit finished. 'Now we will do the same to others.'

The Doctor considered this. 'Okay. Makes sense, I suppose. Credible enough. Could be real.'

Just then a newspaper boy came through the park pushing his bike. 'Morning.'

Mrs Poggit screeched and sent a stream of gas at him. The boy stumbled backwards and before he hit the ground he had turned to dust.

The Doctor turned back to Mrs Poggit and Natasha could see that he was angry. 'You need to leave this planet.'

Mrs Poggit said nothing.

Natasha glanced behind them and saw a couple of other old people approaching. 'Doctor I think this may be the time to utilise our favourite past time.' She tugged on his sleeve until he looked as well.

'Ah, yes.' He took hold of her hand. 'Mrs Poggit…good day.' They ran around the large group of old people and towards the village.

Natasha couldn't help but grin. 'After five years of travelling with you and being married for three of that, I'm still not bored with the running.'

The Doctor grinned at her as they reached the village proper. His grin faded when the birdsong started though.

Natasha stumbled and only the Doctor's grip on her hand kept her upright and moving.

'Fight it Natasha, come one.' He pulled her towards the butcher's shop. As they got closer the birdsong faded slightly but Natasha felt another pain in her head. As they got inside she saw why.

'Oh lovely, it's you.' She said sullenly to the Dream Lord

The Dream Lord didn't respond to that. 'Oh, I love a good butcher's, don't you? We've got to use these places or they'll shut down. Oh, but you're probably a vegetarian, aren't you, you big flop-haired wuss.'

The Doctor locked the front door, changing the sign to closed for some reason, and then went to lock another door. 'Oh, pipe down. I'm busy.'

'Maybe you need a little sleep.'

Natasha staggered into the counter as the birdsong got louder again. She saw the Doctor slump to the floor and made herself go to him. As she helped him up the Dream Lord kept talking.

'Oh, wait a moment. If you fall asleep here, several dozen angry pensioners will destroy you with their horrible eye things.'

The Doctor pulled her towards the back of the shop and Natasha staggered along with him. She glared back at the Dream Lord, wishing a violent, painful ending for him.

He smirked at her. 'Ooh, look at your girl Doctor. Seems like she's developing her brand of the Oncoming Storm.'

Natasha and the Doctor slid to the floor as her eyes slipped closed she heard the Dream Lord inviting the old people into the shop and start to make jokes.

Natasha shook her head and forced herself to wake up. 'She shook the Doctor. 'I don't care if this is possibly a dream, Doctor. I am not losing you.' She slapped him on the face and he jerked awake and up to his feet.

He dragged her to one of the fridges but there was a padlock on it. Natasha pulled him to the next one and nearly tripped as her eyes closed. The Doctor put his arm around her waist and pulled her into the fridge, locking it behind them with his sonic.

As Natasha gave in to the birdsong she felt the Doctor hold her tightly against him.

* * *

As Natasha came round in the TARDIS she heard Amy talking.

'Ah, it's colder.'

The Doctor sat up and Natasha realised that for once she was the only one not on the floor.

'The four of us have to agree, _now_, which is the dream.'

'It's this, here.' Rory said with an emphatic point of his finger.

'He could be right. The science is all wrong here. Burning ice?'

'No, no, no. Ice can burn. Sofas can read. It's a big universe. We have to agree which battle to lose. All of us, now.'

Natasha shook her head and blocked them out, trying to figure something out. Ever since this whole thing began she hadn't had a single push in her head. The only thing she had felt in that way was the Dream Lord. She was sure that meant something…but she didn't know what.

'Competing? Over what?'

Natasha snorted at Amy's question as both men looked at Amy. 'Oh please, your fiancé and your childhood imaginary friend. I wonder what they're competing over.' She saw the Doctor glance at her and realised she sounded a little bitter.

The Doctor looked at his watch and jumped to his feet. 'Nine minutes till impact.'

'What temperature is it?' Amy as she and Rory got to their feet as well.

The Doctor spun to face her rubbing his hands together. 'Outside? Brrr. How many noughts have you got? Inside? I don't know but I can't feel my feet and…other parts.'

'I think all my parts are basically fine.' Rory said snidely.

Natasha saw Amy making ponches out of the blankets and walked over to her, ignoring the men.

Amy looked at her as she walked over. 'Sorry.'

'What for?' Natasha asked the red head.

Amy nodded at the two men behind them. 'For that. No matter which is the dream, I've seen the way you are with the Doctor.'

Natasha blushed and looked away. 'I er…that's not – '

'It is. Whenever he's around you're happier.' Amy smiled at her and then tossed a poncho each to the Doctor and Rory.

'Put these on, both of you.' She handed another to Natasha who gratefully pulled it on over the lumpy jumper she's put on earlier.

Rory rolled his eyes as Amy pulled his over his head. 'Oh, a poncho. The biggest crime against fashion since lederhosen.'

Amy ignored that and pulled her own on before turning to Natasha. 'Here we go. Our boys. Our poncho boys. If we're going to die, let's die looking like a Peruvian folk band.'

'We're not going to die.' Rory said firmly.

'No, we're not, but our time's running out.' The Doctor said with another look at his watch. 'If we fall asleep here we're in trouble. If we could divide up, then we'd have an active presence in each world, but the Dream Lord is switching us between the worlds. Why? Why? what's the logic?'

Natasha shook her head. 'Divide up? Seriously? That's a bad idea!'

'No it's not, it's good idea.' Natasha winced and clutched her head as the Dream Lord appeared again Let's divide you four up, so I can have a little chat with our lovely companion.' He pointed at Amy who looked scared. 'Maybe I'll keep her, and you can have Pointy Nose and Migraine Girl to yourself for all eternity, should you manage to clamber aboard some sort of reality.'

'Can you hear that?' Rory said, looking around as the birdsong started again.

'What? No.' Amy looked around as well.

'Amy, don't be scared.' The Doctor said as he staggered slightly. 'We'll be back.'

The Doctor and Rory fell asleep and Natasha shook her head and fought it off for a moment as she took Amy's hand.

'Don't be scared, just keep us warm eh?' Natasha slipped into unconsciousness.

* * *

Natasha came round in the fridge to find the Doctor gently shaking her.

'Natasha, there you are.' He looked very relieved. 'Come on, we need to find the Pond's.'

Natasha let him help her to her feet. 'Okay, er…they were headed towards their cottage. We should try there first.'

'Okay.' The Doctor fumbled with his screwdriver before stopping.

Natasha raised her eyebrows at him questioningly. 'What? What's wrong?'

'It's…er…I just…' he stuttered.

'Spit it out Doctor, we're a little short on time.'

'Never mind, just thinking of something in the past.' He took hold of the handle on the door. 'Get ready to run again.' Pushing the door open he zapped the lights making the brighten and burst, blinding the old people and making them close their eyes.

The two of them darted around the old people and out of the shop. As they rushed down the small street they saw Mr Nainby trying get into a camper van to kill a man inside.

They ran a little faster, with the Doctor complaining. 'Oh, they couldn't live near the shops, could they.'

'Help me!'

The Doctor grabbed Mr Nainby and shoved him to the ground. As he did Natasha pulled the door open and gestured for the man to move into the back. As the man shifted she slid into the passenger seat and the Doctor climbed into the driver seat.

'Can you drive Doctor?' She said eyeing the road nervously.

The Doctor started the engine. 'Well I can drive the TARDIS can't I?' Natasha did not find that as comforting as he obviously meant it to be.

As they drove near the playground they saw two woman being surrounded by old people. The man in the back slid the door open as the Doctor slowed down.

'Get in, get in, get in. Quickly, quickly, over here. Quickly. Get in.'

'Come on, jump in. Quickly, get in now. Quickly.' The Doctor glanced behind him.

Natasha pointed at the road. 'Go they're in.'

At the church as family were cornered near the gate and they managed to squeeze them into the back as well. Around the other end of the church they stopped and ushered everyone out.

'Okay get inside and lock the door.' Natasha said as the last person get out.

'Yes,' the Doctor said in agreement. 'Into the church, that's right. Don't answer the door.'

They scrambled back into the camper van and drove towards Amy and Rory's cottage. As they did the Dream Lord appeared in the back seat and the return of Natasha's headache caused her to clutch her head again.

'It's make your mind up time in both worlds.'

'Fine.' The Doctor said calmly. 'I need to find my friends.'

'Friends?' The Dream Lord asked curiously. 'Is that the right word for the people you acquire? Friends are people you stay in touch with. Your friends never see you again once they've grown up. The old man prefers the company of the young, does he not?'

Natasha put a hand on the Doctor's arm as the Dream Lord disappeared. 'Everyone has a choice to be with you Doctor. We know the risks.'

The Doctor nodded briefly but didn't say anything. Then they arrived at Rory and Amy's cottage to find besieged by the elderly. If the situation were different Natasha would have laughed at what looked like a slow motion attack.

'Okay,' he pulled Natasha out of the camper with him. 'Here's the plan. We rush over and fast as we can, climb the trellis to that window. Hopefully they'll be in there.'

Natasha nodded. 'Okay, on the count of three. One – '

'Three!' The Doctor darted out from behind the camper van and Natasha yelped as he yanked her along with him.

Dodging past the old people they quickly reached the trellis where the Doctor urged Natasha ahead of him. Not wasting time arguing she quickly grabbed hold and started climbing.

At the top Natasha got her finger under the edge of the window and managed to yank it open. She quickly climbed in but caught her foot and ended up rolling inside in an ungracious ball.

She saw Amy and Rory watching. 'Remind me to never do that again.'

Just then the Doctor tumbled in behind her. 'Sorry, we had to stop off at the butcher's.'

Rory looked at the window. 'What are we going to do?'

'I don't know.' The Doctor replied, still lying on the floor. 'I thought the freezing TARDIS was real but now I'm not so sure.'

Suddenly Amy clutched her stomach. 'Oh! I think the baby's starting.'

Rory just looked at her. 'Honestly?'

Natasha scowled at immediately hit the back of his head. 'Would she make it up at a time like this?'

'Well, she does have a history of – 'he broke off as Amy and Natasha both gave him a look, 'being very lovely.' The banging from the old people got louder and more intense. 'Why are they so desperate to kill us?'

The Doctor looked back at the window. 'They're scared. Fear generates savagery.'

Suddenly a stone garden ornament is thrown through the window and Rory gets up to investigate. Mrs Poggit suddenly appears at the window and Rory gets a face full of gas.

Amy yells out as Rory staggers and falls to the floor. 'Rory!'

The Doctor grabbed a lamp and shoved Mrs Poggit of the roof of the porch. Natasha scrambled to her feet and clutched hold of his hand as they watched Amy and Rory.

Rory looked down at himself. 'No, I'm not ready.'

'Stay.' Amy said desperately.

As she said this, Rory slowly started turning to dust. 'Look after our baby.'

Amy stared in shock at the pile of dust that used to be her husband. 'No. No. Come back.' She looked up at the Doctor. 'Save him. You save everyone. You always do. It's what you do.'

Natasha felt the Doctor clutch her hand tightly as he whispered his reply. 'Not always. I'm sorry.'

Amy looked at him angrily. 'Then what, is the point of you? Natasha put her free hand on the Doctor's arm as Amy touched Rory's pile of dust and then got to her feet.

'This is the dream. Definitely this one.' Amy said firmly as they moved a little closer to her. 'Now, if we die here, we wake up, yeah?'

The Doctor didn't do anything except nod and hold Natasha's hand tighter.

Natasha nodded as well. 'If this is the dream, then yes. Otherwise…we just die.'

'Either way, this is my only chance of seeing him again.' Amy didn't seem to realise she was rocking back and forth slightly. 'This is the dream.'

'How do you know?' The Doctor asked her quietly.

'Because if this is real life, I don't want it. I don't want it.'

Amy turned and stormed out of the Nursery, with the Doctor and Natasha rushing after her. Once they got outside the old people didn't seem to be doing anything anymore.

Amy looked and yelled at them. 'Why aren't they attacking?'

'Either because this is just a dream or because they know what we're about to do.'

In front of the camper van Amy held out her hand for the key.

'Be very sure.' The Doctor said slowly. 'This could be the real world.'

'It can't be. Rory isn't here.' Amy now had tears streaming unnoticed down her face. 'I didn't know. I didn't, I didn't, I honestly didn't, till right now. I just want him.'

The Doctor gave her a sad smile. 'Okay. Okay.' He put the key in her open hand and then clasped his hand over hers. Natasha put her hand over the Doctor's and smiled at Amy.

They broke apart and got into the van. There was just barely enough room for Natasha to squeeze into between the driver and passenger seat, but there was no way she was sitting in the back.

Amy started the engine and then looked at them. 'I love Rory, and I never told him. But now he's gone.'

Natasha put a hand on Amy's arm. 'So let's go get him.'

Amy nodded and revved the engine. Then suddenly they were off and headed full tilt towards the cottage.

* * *

Natasha woke up in the frozen TARDIS, nearby Amy and Rory were getting to their feet. Natasha noticed that the Doctor wasn't moving. 'No, no, no.' She quickly went to him. 'Doctor? Doctor wake up!'

The Doctor's eyes opened slowly. 'Natasha, I appear to be…more frozen than everyone else. That means it has…' He stopped and grimaced in pain.

Natasha shook her head. 'Sssh it's okay. You'll do that regeneration thing you mentioned, I'm sure that'll fix you right up, it's just a bit of frostbite.'

The Doctor shook his head slightly. 'No you don't…understand. I should already be…regenerating it's…not…this is…'

'Don't say that!' Natasha gripped his hands tightly. 'You'll be fine. 'Amy, Rory find some more blankets!' As they disappeared the Doctor gasped in pain again.

'You don't…I have to tell you…this isn't…isn't…' The Doctor's eyes shut.

'Doctor?' Natasha touched his face. 'Doctor this isn't what?' He didn't respond, or move in any way. 'Doctor?' She shook him slightly. 'Doctor wake up. Wake up Doctor, come on. Doctor!'

Rory reappeared beside her. 'Natasha let me see him.' She moved back slightly and Rory put his head to the Doctor's chest. 'I can't hear his heart beats. He's…dead.'

Natasha shook her head fiercely and pushed Rory away. 'No! Don't say that!' She lifted the Doctor's head into her lap. 'Come on Doctor, you're okay, you have to be okay.' Natasha felt tears slide down her face. 'Please be okay…'

Amy came over to her with tears on her own face. 'Natasha he's…gone.'

'No.' Natasha shook her head and carefully put the Doctor back onto the floor. She stood up and went to the console flipping random switched and levers and pushing every button she could see.

'What are you doing?' Amy asked her from where she was sat near the Doctor.

'I'm trying to blow up the TARDIS.'

Rory came over and tried to stop her. 'Natasha don't! What are you doing?'

Natasha looked at him and shouted. 'I'm blowing this dream to smithereens!'

Amy got up and came over as well. 'No, this is the real world! You'll kill us.'

She ignored them a kept messing with things. The TARDIS had started making noises. 'No, I refuse to accept that. The Doctor is the best thing that has happened to me in so long and I refuse to give him up.'

Amy took hold of Natasha's hands. 'I know how you feel but he's _dead_. He wouldn't want you to kill yourself.'

'Who are you?' Rory said suddenly.

Natasha and Amy looked away from each other and saw what Rory was looking at. Amy was confused but Natasha just stared in shock.

There was a little girl stood near the console, with brown hair and silvery blue eyes.

'It's me, when I was five.' Amy and Rory looked at her in shock. 'But how?'

Little Natasha smirked at them. 'You're so bad Natasha, trying to kill your friends. But then, that's what you do isn't it? Kill people.'

Amy looked at Natasha who was frozen and not from the cold. 'What's she talking about? Natasha?'

'She kills people, Amy. Did she not tell you?' Little Natasha skipped around the console and looked down at the Doctor's body. 'First her parents, then her Grandpa.'

Natasha closed her eyes and shook her head desperately trying to shut out the younger version of herself.

Rory spoke up again. 'You're lying. Natasha isn't like that.'

Little Natasha continued as though he hadn't spoken. 'And then her Grandma and little sister. All dead because of her. Look at what's she's done now, killed the Doctor. He wouldn't be dead if she weren't here. It's all her fault.'

Natasha opened her eyes again as she sank to the floor. Little Natasha was right, everything she said was true.

Suddenly Amy started flipping switches and levers. 'Rory help me.'

'What are you doing?' He asked without moving.

'Blowing up the TARDIS. Natasha was right.'

Natasha shook her head. 'No I wasn't, this is real. I always kill people so of course I killed the Doctor.'

Amy ignored her. 'Rory do it!'

Rory started hitting buttons and the noise in the rose and then suddenly…

Natasha blinked and looked around, she was sat under the stairs with her sketch book beside her. Looking up she saw the Doctor stood at the console looking at something in his hand. Feet appeared on the stairs above Natasha's head and Amy and Rory came down the stairs to stand next to the Doctor.

'What happened?' Amy asked.

'Well, I know what happened up until I 'died' but what about afterwards?' The Doctor asked curiously.

Rory looked around but didn't spot Natasha. 'Well Natasha went to blow up the TARDIS, but then a younger version of herself appeared and started…' He stopped.

'Started what? What did it say?'

Natasha closed her eyes and pulled her knees to her chest, trying to shut out what had happened.

Amy sighed and sat down. 'It's stupid. The little girl started saying that Natasha killed people, her family and you. Natasha sort of…gave up. But I know Natasha, she isn't like that, so I knew it had to be another dream.'

Natasha heard footsteps come closer to her but didn't look up.

'Natasha,' it was the Doctor. 'This is psychic pollen. It's what caused the dreams.' Natasha didn't look. 'At first it latched onto me. The pollen is a parasite it feeds on the darkest parts of you. That's what the Dream Lord was, the darkest parts of me. Nine hundred years…it had a lot to feed on.'

Natasha heard the others come over and Amy speak up. 'But you died, how did it keep the dream going?'

'It realised I had figured it out. So it switched, to Natasha, but she was too smart I reckon.'

'She said you were the best thing that had happened to her.' Rory told him quietly. 'She couldn't give you up.'

'Well you're pretty fabulous yourself dear.'

Amy interrupted him. 'Hold on, if what the Dream Lord said was what you believed about yourself, which is stupid, then what the girl said…'

Natasha felt the Doctor's hand on her arm. 'Natasha, why do you think you killed your family?'

'Because I did.' She didn't look up. She couldn't stand to see them look at her with pity or worse disgust.

'What happened?'

'My parents died in a car crash when I was five, my Grandpa got knocked off a path and into traffic when I was eleven, my Grandma and my little sister got killed when an elevator they were on failed, that was when I was sixteen.'

Natasha heard Amy gasp but still didn't look up.

The Doctor squeezed her arm slightly. 'But why do you blame yourself?'

'Because…because before each accident I saw something in my head, I had a vision.' Natasha finally looked up at the Doctor who was knelt beside her. 'If I had figured out what it meant then they would all be alive!' She felt tears stream down her face but ignored them. 'It's _my_ fault because I was too stupid to figure it out! I _killed_ them!'

'Oh Natasha,' the Doctor put his hands on her face and wiped away her tears with his thumbs. 'It's not your fault. Abilities like yours, at that age, there was no way you could possibly have understood what it meant. Look at how obscure the images still are.'

Natasha shook her head and stood. Wiping away her tears Natasha shoved everything she was feeling away, forcing her face back into a calm expression. 'It doesn't matter. Now how about we go somewhere warm? After all that ice a beach sounds perfect.' She walked up to the console smiling as she did.

Amy was right behind her. 'Wait, Natasha we need to talk about this.'

'How about Madrid? Or Australia? Nah too many beasties in Australia.'

'Natasha,' Amy took hold of her arm. 'Talk to us.'

She just shook Amy off and walked towards the stairs, but the Doctor got in front of her. 'Natasha.' He just looked at her sadly.

Natasha fought to keep her smile in place. 'No, Doctor. Not…not now. I can't.'

The Doctor paused but then nodded and let her go. 'Okay then how about Rio?' He danced away to the console and started fiddling. 'Perfect place and there's dancing!'

Natasha didn't look round but heard Amy whisper to the Doctor. 'Doctor, she can't just – '

'No, but we can't force her to either.' The Doctor said this quietly before going back to being loud. 'Now off you pop Pond, get into some Rio clothes.'

Natasha quickly took the escape offered and retreated to her room. Inside she leaned against the closed door before slowly sliding to the floor crying. Natasha desperately wanted to believe her friends, to believe that it wasn't her fault. But how could she? She had known something that could have changed what happened and she did nothing with it.

Natasha heard a light tap on the door and tried to talk normally. 'Yeah?'

'Natasha,' it was the Doctor again. 'I know you can't talk about it now, but I'll be waiting for when you can, we all will. And for the record I still think the Leadworth dream was nightmare, all that quietness…yuck…' Natasha felt her heart clench slightly, until he continued. 'The thing that made it good though was being married to you…that was nice, travelling together, just the two of us…'

Natasha heard him walk away again and smiled slightly. Perhaps she should have a shower. Hopefully by the time she came out she'd be in a better mood, and better able to smile.

* * *

_Author Note - I've actually had the last part in the TARDIS written for ages, pretty much since I first got the idea for the story. So I hope you like this chapter - please read and review. I've no idea when the next part will be up as I haven't even started on it yet._


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